History

During the first International Reunion in Acapulco, which was held in March 1995, the participants decided to encourage the establishment of an Alumni Association in each participating country of the Ship for World Youth program. They shared their ideas about how to build an international Ship for World Youth Alumni Association (SWYAA) network of this program.

In January 1996, the first Ship for World Youth Alumni Association (SWYAA) Conference was held; inviting fourteen representatives from thirteen eastbound countries, where an agreement was made on the basic framework of SWYAA. The second International Reunion in Dubai 1996, was attended mainly by the ex-PYs of the westbound countries. In the on-board discussion during SWY 8, the agreement was supported as the basic framework for SWYAA, which emphasized global perspectives towards the future network.

Based on the recent developments in each country, and on the active cooperation of ex-PYs, the Ex-PY Conference was organized by inviting ex-PYs of participating countries of the westbound course in 1997. The representatives agreed to “SWYAA Amendment 1997,” which was built upon the agreement of 1996.

In 1998, the third Ex-PY Conference was held for the eastbound countries, followed by the fourth Conference for the westbound countries in January 1999, and the fifth Conference for the eastbound countries in September of the same year. The Conferences aimed to identify the present situation of each Alumni Association and discussed the future plans for the establishment of the SWY Alumni Association network.

The Ex-PY Conference is being voluntarily planned and organized by the Alumni Associations with the support of the Japanese Government. This Conference is aimed strengthen the establishment of the SWY Alumni Association network, which will then contribute to the global society in many fields by making use of the resources gained in the SWY program.

Tokyo Conference for the Ex-Participating Youth of the Ship for World Youth Program

Year	Conference	Date	Place	Participating Countries
1996	Tokyo Conference 1	January 16 - 21	Tokyo	Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Solomon Is., USA, Venezuela, and Japan
1997	Tokyo Conference 2	January 16 - 21	Tokyo	Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Kenya, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Poland, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, UAE, UK, Yemen, and Japan
1998	Tokyo Conference 3	January 15 - 21	Tokyo	Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, CostaRica, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Tonga, USA, Venezuela, and Japan
1999	Tokyo Conference 4	January 14 - 20	Tokyo	Egypt, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, UAE, UK, Yemen, and Japan
1999	Tokyo Conference 5	September 6 - 12	Tokyo	Australia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Rep., Ecuador, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Solomon Is., Tonga, Uruguay, USA, and Japan
2000	Tokyo Conference 6	Aug. 31-Sept. 6	Tokyo	Bahrain, Belgium, Egypt, Greece, India, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, UAE, UK, and Japan
2001	Tokyo Conference 7	December 4 - 16	Singapore Nippon Maru Tokyo	Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Tonga, USA, Venezuela, and Japan
2002	Ex-PY Conference 8	December 3 - 16	Honolulu Nippon Maru Tokyo	Australia, Canada, Chile, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Tonga, USA, Venezuela, and Japan
2004	Ex-PY Conference 9	Feb. 23 - March 7	Singapore Nippon Maru Tokyo	Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, India, Kenya, Mauritius, Norway, Seychelles, Spain, UAE, and Japan
2005	Ex-PY Conference 10	Feb. 24 - March 8	Guam Nippon Maru Tokyo	Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Fiji, Mexico, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, USA, Venezuela, and Japan
2006	Ex-PY Conference 11	Feb. 21 - March 6	Sinfapore Nippon Maru Tokyo	Bahrain, Greece, India, Kenya, Mauritius, Norway, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, UAE, Yemen and Japan
2007	Ex-PY Conference 12	April 17 - 22	Tokyo, Japan	Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Venezuela, USA and Japan
2008	Ex-PY Conference 13	March 16-21	Tokyo, Japan	Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, India, Japan, Kenya, Oman, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Yemen

Note, in 2002, it was suggested that the Tokyo Conference for the Ex-Participation Youth of SWY Program, as known as Tokyo Conference, should be called as Ex-PY Conference in short.