The international expansion of the super-popular TBS entertainment program SASUKE, having gained popularity around the globe ever since the first broadcast 17 years ago, is about to enter a new dimension.

A large-scale international SASUKE event tentatively named the SASUKE ASEAN OPEN CUP 2013 will be held in November 2013 in Malaysia. Endorsed by the ASEAN Secretariat and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as part of the celebration of the 40th year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, this event will mean the elevation of the Malaysian-produced SASUKE into a regional and international competition.

With the Malaysian government strongly supporting SASUKE, plans call for athletes to be invited from Indonesia, Thailand and the 8 other ASEAN countries and from around the world. The large-scale competition is to be held at Stadium Kelana Jaya in Kuala Lumpur in late November 2013. The SASUKE ASEAN OPEN CUP 2013 competition is timed to coincide with the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Sports also to be held in the Malaysian capital in the same period.

A Malaysian government press conference to announce plans for this event took place on February 27th in Putrajaya, the federal administrative center of Malaysia located south of Kuala Lumpur. Part of the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports initiative to combat obesity and help foster the health of the nation's youth, the conference was attended by Ministry officials as well as officials from the embassies of other ASEAN countries and Japan. Endorsed by the ASEAN Secretariat and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as part of the celebration of the 40th year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the event is designed to broaden and strengthen contacts in the region beyond the politic and economic spheres through an engagement with SASUKE shared by people throughout the region.

With SASUKE content already on the air in 157 countries and territories, the first local production was realized in Malaysia in 2011, followed in 2012 by a local production in Singapore. In both programs, the broadcasts scored high ratings and have been very well received. Now, with the SASUKE ASEAN OPEN CUP 2013, SASUKE is elevated from the national to the international level, opening up a new dimension for the sports entertainment program.

Since it first went on the air in 1997, SASUKE has been one of TBS's leading shows, and has often featured in special New Year holiday programming. Last summer it became the first video graphic content originating from Japan to be broadcast in prime time in the US, airing simultaneously on the terrestrial broadcast giant NBC and the G4 cable networks. With a European SASUKE production recently announced, SASUKE is now produced locally in North America, Europe, and now at the Asian regional levels, taking the super-popular show to an entirely new level of international success.