H.E. Dr Gergely Gulyás said, "After two years of pandemic, being here today is an invigorating feeling. For the love of the sport and of our respective cultures, I am happy to be here today. There is a lot in common between Japan and Hungary and I believe that we can be proud of our countries and their contribution to the world. Japan is the homeland of judo. Thanks to Mr Vizer and his hard work, international judo also has a home in Budapest. We are very happy with this. It helps us to respect traditions and to look into the future."
Mr Yamashita declared, "President Vizer, I would like to thank you for your friendship, trust and support, making this grand slam a success. Judo is a tool for lifelong learning; a sport with moral codes and friendship, courage and courtesy. It is a platform for peace and mutual understanding. It is what brings us together here today."
Mr Ernö Schaller-Baross declared, "It is a real pleasure to be here in Japan, where judo was born. As H.E. Dr Gergely Gulyás said, judo is a big family and I feel happy being part of it."
Mr Marius Vizer said, "It's a great honour to have your Imperial Highness Princess Tomohito of Mikasa as a Judo Ambassador and it is a great pleasure to welcome you here. In those difficult moments for the world, the judo values taught by Professor Jigoro Kano can help to promote unity and friendship and can be the key to projecting people. Recently the UN General Assembly recognised that 'the unifying and conciliative nature' of major international sports events 'should be respected.’ Sport and judo in particular bring people together. Thanks to the AJJF, the Kodokan, the Japanese NOC, our guests and friends, we can further promote our values to inspire people to do well."
Those are not only words, they are facts and actions that are vivid in Tokyo on the occasion of the grand slam and they have been real throughout the year on the five continents.