In 1967, the Japanese Youth Goodwill Cruise Program (JYGC) began as one of the commemorative projects of the Centennial of the Meiji Restoration.
JYGC was a project which provided big dreams and hopes to many Japanese youths where the government took initiative to send youths overseas at the time when it was still extremely difficult for them to go abroad on their own.
At that time, the ratio of the participants was 300 Japanese youth to 50 youth from overseas. However, as the role of Japan in the international world increased and internationalization became a key factor in various fields in the society, the improvement of the international youth exchange program implemented by the Japanese Government was deemed necessary.
Therefore, the JYGC was modified and the program became the Ship for World Youth (SWY) in 1988.