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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws CONTEMPORARY JAPAN https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2023.2168836 The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws Jules Boykoff Department of Politics and Government Forest Grove, Pacific University, Oregon, USA ARTICLE HISTORY Received 6 November 2022; Accepted 11 January 2023 KEYWORDS Olympics; Tokyo 2020; Olympic Games; corruption The 2020 Tokyo Olympics demonstrated to the world that the Games are not too big to fail; instead, they may be too big to succeed, especially during a public-health pandemic. Tokyo bidders promised they’d be a “safe pair of hands” for the Games. However, the Olympics brought astronomical costs, greenwashing, displacement, security militariza- tion, and corruption – problems that have become endemic to the Games in general. Tokyo 2020 was originally slated to cost $7.3 billion, but the price tag escalated to approximately four times that, according to a government audit in Japan. Postponement added billions more, bringing the total to around $30 billion. The Games created space for local developers to leverage the Olympic state of exception to relax longtime height restrictions on building in the neighborhood around the National Stadium, thereby prying open urban terrain for well-positioned developers. Games organizers also generated credible allegations of greenwashing: publicly dis- http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Contemporary Japan Taylor & Francis

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws

Boykoff, Jules
Contemporary Japan , Volume OnlineFirst: 3 – Jan 23, 2023
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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws

Abstract

CONTEMPORARY JAPAN https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2023.2168836 The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws Jules Boykoff Department of Politics and Government Forest Grove, Pacific University, Oregon, USA ARTICLE HISTORY Received 6 November 2022; Accepted 11 January 2023 KEYWORDS Olympics; Tokyo 2020; Olympic Games; corruption The 2020 Tokyo Olympics demonstrated to the world that the Games are not too big to fail; instead, they may be too big...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2023 German Institute for Japanese Studies
ISSN
1869-2737
eISSN
1869-2729
DOI
10.1080/18692729.2023.2168836
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

CONTEMPORARY JAPAN https://doi.org/10.1080/18692729.2023.2168836 The Tokyo 2020 Olympics: From a “safe pair of hands” to a corrupt pair of claws Jules Boykoff Department of Politics and Government Forest Grove, Pacific University, Oregon, USA ARTICLE HISTORY Received 6 November 2022; Accepted 11 January 2023 KEYWORDS Olympics; Tokyo 2020; Olympic Games; corruption The 2020 Tokyo Olympics demonstrated to the world that the Games are not too big to fail; instead, they may be too big to succeed, especially during a public-health pandemic. Tokyo bidders promised they’d be a “safe pair of hands” for the Games. However, the Olympics brought astronomical costs, greenwashing, displacement, security militariza- tion, and corruption – problems that have become endemic to the Games in general. Tokyo 2020 was originally slated to cost $7.3 billion, but the price tag escalated to approximately four times that, according to a government audit in Japan. Postponement added billions more, bringing the total to around $30 billion. The Games created space for local developers to leverage the Olympic state of exception to relax longtime height restrictions on building in the neighborhood around the National Stadium, thereby prying open urban terrain for well-positioned developers. Games organizers also generated credible allegations of greenwashing: publicly dis-

Journal

Contemporary Japan – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 23, 2023

Keywords: Olympics; Tokyo 2020; Olympic Games; corruption

References

  • Tokyo 2020 and the End of Olympic History