He comes from Northern Finland from the city of Oulu and moved step-by-step to warmer regions to eventually accept a challenge in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

Since last autumn Jukka Tiikkaja has been running the IIHF’s Asian office in Tokyo as the Asian Sport Development Manager.

To IIHF.com the 33-year-old talked about his work, his first hockey season in the Far East and about developing hockey in Asia following the Asian Strategic Planning Group’s meeting during the World Championship in Cologne.

When did you start with your work in Tokyo?

I started on 1st September. First I travelled to some of the countries. Most of the national associations were visited in fall as a part of the domestic development process to help them align their priorities for development. Then me and my family moved to Japan in January. In hockey terms, one season is behind now. I just went to Europe for the World Championship in Germany when we had Committee meetings.

How did it happen that you landed in this position?

When I was working in Vierumäki as the director of the bachelor program in sports and leisure management with specialization in ice hockey coaches, I got to know many people from the IIHF. It’s something we started to discuss one year ago. It’s something the IIHF was looking for. I was working in Vierumäki for six years and within the family we though it would be interesting at some point to work in a different culture. I think it was sort of a win-win situation. I got a two-year absence leave from my work at the institute, so I have the chance to go back to Finland after two years. At least that’s the plan right now.

When you were approached, was it a difficult decision for you and your family?

My wife has also studied different cultures and has also a certain level of interest in different countries. We already discussed before to work outside of Finland, so it wasn’t a big shock. For many Finnish people Japan is a country that is quite different, but there are also similarities between the people. After all, it wasn’t such a hard decision, although it’s of course a big change for all of us.

Where is your office located in Tokyo?

The office is located at the headquarters of the Japanese Olympic Committee. When people talk about the Asian office, it sounds big and fancy, but it’s basically just one desk and one person.

Who are your neighbours at the office?

My neighbours are JOC people. I just got new ones. They worked for the 2016 Olympics bidding committee. Now as the result was not positive for the Tokyo bid, they will focus on the future.

What’s the typical work you’re doing at the office?

That’s a tough question. It’s interesting because I’m doing a little bit of everything. Now we are involved in some marketing initiatives but we also talk about coaches’ and game official education, national association management assistance and infrastructure development assistance. Even some financial administration and web site coverage of the Challenge Cup of Asia. Every day is a little bit different.

What are your goals in the development of Asian hockey?

We have some regional projects we discussed at the committee meeting and we talked about a infrastructure development assistance program, how to get more people involved in the sport, and to make people aware of ice hockey. We talked about education and the knowledge of people involved in the sport, especially through the coaching programs. We hope to help national associations set up coaching program in their countries. And another thing is to find management and administration tools. These are the main projects we’re going to get running. Our goals go to the grass-roots level by trying to help members to increase their participation numbers at all levels.

How is it for you to live in Tokyo?

It has been nice, also for the family with the small children. Tokyo is really nice with many parks and places to spend time together with the family. People have been really friendly to us, the food is good and we’ve really enjoyed it. A challenge is the language because people don’t speak that much English in Japan, even in Tokyo, but we are trying to learn a little bit of Japanese every day, so we hope it will be better.

I guess you’re now also proficient in making sushi.

Well, I like cooking, but I’m not an expert in sushi, although we have a rice cooker now, so it’s easy to make. If I’d get fresh ingredients from the fish market, that’s a good way to start.

You might also meet with IIHF Vice-President and Asian Committee Chairman Shoichi Tomita pretty often.

When Tomita-san is in Tokyo, we meet every week. I really like working with him. He’s a really nice, friendly gentlemen and even though we have a generation in between, we had quite fun when travelling together. It’s been a pleasure to work with him. We work quite close together because in the Japanese culture you need the support from the senpai – the more experienced persons in an organization – to be able to have impact. Young people – the kohai – cannot change everything. That doesn’t work in the Japanese culture. The support from the senpai is really important. The older generation has to make the way free for inputs from the younger generation. It’s really different.

How important is the Challenge Cup of Asia that was played for the third year now?

It’s important for many of the smaller Asian countries. It’s something the federations are looking forward to. We ran three events this year with the men’s, women’s and university tournaments. The tournament, especially the men’s tournament with many nations involved, is a little bit more flexible when it comes to the rules. The men’s tournament is between the real world championships and invitational tournaments. For example, we had running time without stoppages, just like in football, and the game schedule regulation is different, so they can play a little bit more games.

How many teams will participate next year?

We might end up with nine or ten teams again. India couldn’t take part last year and we hope that they can come next year. The participants are the less developed hockey countries. If we would add teams it would mean to add Japan, Korea, China, DPR Korea, but their level is quite different. And if we should have new IIHF members in the future, they could also join.

Is it already known where it will be hosted?

Originally it was planned to host the men’s tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, but we received a note from them that they won’t be able to host the event due to the current unrest in the country. We will discuss about the tournament in August. The Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia will be hosted in Japan and the University Challenge Cup in China, but the cities are not chosen yet.

The arena in Taipei City looked pretty full during the 2010 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia. Is there a big interest in the city?

It was huge. It was a full house in the small arena packed with 1,000 spectators and they were standing everywhere they could. The Asian fans are really enthusiastic and as soon as the puck passes the red line they start living with the game. The atmosphere was really excellent. Chinese Taipei is a bit special because of its legislation. Because it’s a public rink, the organizer can’t charge for tickets and the building has to be available for visitors from 9am to 9pm. That’s the system: “benefit for everybody”. If they would sell tickets, they would have to rent the rink and the cost would be so high that you probably can’t cover it with ticket sales. I heard the atmosphere in Abu Dhabi the year before was also excellent with a full house and fans jumping and chanting. It’s a really important event for all the countries involved and I believe we will also see enthusiastic fans next year.

Do you think there could be a next Asian team to be able to play in the World Championship Division III after the United Arab Emirates had their premiere?

Chinese Taipei might be potent in the future considering they will play with their U20 and U18 teams next season and then we have Mongolia and the UAE that play in Division I with the men’s national teams. Then the gap is relatively big. Not necessarily skill-wise, but when it comes to fulfilling the minimum standards to participate in the World Championship program, like the structure, the national league, the number of players.

The Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia started with two national teams from China, with Japan and DPR Korea this year. Will there be any more teams?

Right now we hope that we will have at least the same four teams, but there was also interest from other members like Hong Kong and Kuwait. But we also have to look at the quality of the tournament and maybe to build two divisions if we want to extend it. There are some smaller countries that are now building a women’s program, so we might see new countries in the future.

You’re dealing with different cultures – the Far East, India, Arab countries. How is this for you to deal with people of different cultural background?

That’s one of the best parts of the job, to get to know many different people from different cultures. Some people might think Asia is all the same, but all the countries are quite different from each other. I enjoyed it, but you’d have to ask the others how they feel I manage to work together with them. I have to adjust every day a bit. Coming from Scandinavia where organizations are quite dynamic and flexible and things move quickly, there’s a certain hierarchy in organizations here you have to appreciate and find a way to work within the culture. Every day in Tokyo you have to think which the best way to approach different matters is.

Were there any special experiences when you travelled around? Like in India where you were recently?

In India, I agree with their tourism slogan “Incredible India”. There are so many interesting things to see. We took a car ride from New Delhi to Dehradun and it took eight hours although it’s just 230 kilometres. They say there are 80 different types of road users in India and you really got to see that when you drive through the country and you see all the cows and other animals. Once in December I also went straight from Abu Dhabi with +25°C to Ulaanbaatar with -25°C. That was also an interesting experience. But there are many special things, so it’s difficult to tell it with a few examples. I could tell a story about every country I’ve been.

You were in Dehradun, India, for the first Olympic-size indoor ice rink they’re building. Are there similar steps in other countries?

Mongolia started building one in Erdenet, a mining city. But that’s also a project that might take a while. It would also be the first indoor arena for the country. Probably it could be finished in late 2012. But in general it’s difficult to argue about ice rinks in countries you have a low number of players. That’s why we need to get more players involved as a second step after having an arena.

How about China? There are just 400-something players in this huge country and most national team players come from just two cities. What could be done to develop ice hockey in China?

In China it’s interesting because they have mostly worked through their Sport Bureau’s programs with Harbin and Qiqihar as the most important hockey cities, for the men’s program there is also one in Chang Chun. But now they have more junior programs and club programs in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai for example. There are also new facilities being built. There’s a huge potential. I think they need to grow the club and junior programs to grow the sport and to develop players from childhood to the senior level. The sport bureau’s program has the advantage that they can get kids at the age of 14 to train as full-time athletes while studying different topics. But especially to compete in the men’s tournaments the number of players in the club system is not high enough and the clubs are not really integrated in the national association. That’s an issue where we try to come up with tools to help them and to have more control over their sport. China could face similar problems in international women’s hockey, too. Until now the strategy to have a limited number of athletes training as professionals worked well to be successful, but the sport is growing in smaller countries and it would be good for China to get more women involved in the early years and to create more competition on national level from children to senior hockey. Then the athletes would be more skilled when they enter the sport bureau’s program.

The New York Islanders once planned to come to China. Do you think it could help promote hockey by having an NHL team for some exhibition games?

Awareness and promotion is one part of the equation, but the sport still needs to be accessible at the grass-roots level. If the sport becomes more accessible, such promotion can help to really grow the numbers. There has been some NHL clubs who came to Japan in the past, and NHL teams have also been active in China. The Islanders already have a program to help hockey in China and the San Jose Sharks used to work together with the Asia League team. There has been interest from the highest level, but if we cannot make the sport accessible at the grass-roots level, it’s hard to grow the sport.

In the recent years hockey has grown in countries with a warmer climate like the United Arab Emirates. Is there a potential for ice hockey in these parts of the world?

The UAE and the Middle East altogether is a little bit different to other Asian countries. The average income level is relatively high and they also have resources at the governmental level to develop the infrastructure. They are able to establish facilities even though it’s more expensive to run an arena. The locals also have more money to participate in ice hockey. Last summer they had 100 kids under the age of 12. I think there is potential for growth in this region, although the population is a bit smaller than in other Asian countries.

How about the Asia League? How will it continue next season?

It will continue, although there are some discussions about the future structure of the Asia League. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops in the next few months. At the moment it looks like it will be the same seven teams as last season – four from Japan, two from Korea and one from China. If the structure should change with the corporate structure of the teams there could even be a chance to increase the number of teams in the upcoming years and possibly include other countries. There have been countries that showed some interest and we never know what happens in the long run.

MARTIN MERK