In early March, the "Ball is our Friend Project" was launched in Japan. The project's overarching goal is to end all wars by popularizing football.
"I want world peace through football," exclaims Tsubasa, the hero of the manga, in his "Football Declaration of Peace to the World." Perhaps that's why the popular Japanese comic book character became the face of the "Ball is our Friend Project." The creator of Captain Tsubasa is Japanese cartoonist and artist Yoichi Takahashi. The manga series featuring the main character of the "Ball is our Friend Project" already has 14 books and is popular among fans.
As part of the "Ball is our Friend Project," organizers have begun collecting funds for footballs for children in 12 countries: the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. As you may have guessed, the initiative is funded by themed NFTs. TSUBASA Co., Ltd. and double jump.tokyo, a developer of blockchain games and provider of NFT solutions, have combined their efforts to mint them.
Shinji Kagawa, a well-known Japanese footballer and midfielder for the "Cerezo Osaka" club, was chosen as the project's ambassador. He won the 2011 AFC Asian Cup during his playing career and has played for leading European clubs, including Manchester United.
The first series of Tsubasa NFTs includes images of footballs decorated with original illustrations by Yoichi Takahashi. Among them are over 280 legendary scenes from the artist's popular manga. The background of each NFT is randomly selected to create a one-of-a-kind work of art.
The project launched on March 2. During a two-hour presale, a limited edition gold series of Tsubasa NFTs was sold to a special invited list. One NFT cost 0.08 ETH.
After that, a 12-day public sale was opened, during which NFTs could be purchased for 0.1 ETH on the project's official website. Each Tsubasa NFT can be converted into soulbound tokens (SBT) in exchange for real footballs from Yoichi Takahashi's "couture" line.
Finally, regarding the technical executor of the new peace initiative, double jump.tokyo was founded in 2018. It is now considered the leading Japanese startup specializing in NFT solutions and blockchain game development.
In 2022, double jump.tokyo launched 2XJ "WEB3 Tech Studio," where they create web3 projects in collaboration with well-known IT brands.
