Political Economy of the Tokyo Olympics

This book is an analysis of both contemporary Tokyo and the contemporary Olympic Games, emphasizing the role of late-stage capitalism and political economy in shaping both.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were mired in scandal from the beginning of the bidding process all the way through to the end of the games. This was further exacerbated by the emergency postponement to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with many public opinion polls supporting further postponement or cancelation in 2021. The contributors to this volume look at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the context of other modern games and the struggle to use the games as an economic stimulus. They reveal the reality of the Olympic development in Tokyo based on evidence and concrete policy analysis.

This is a valuable resource for scholars both of contemporary Japan and of the Olympics and other mega-events.

Did we really witness the Olympics? Tokyo under the pandemic seems to have quickly forgotten the bizarre experience of mega-events with no spectators. This book is a critical challenge that explores the undisclosed secrets of a megacity still chasing global illusions in the age of digitalization and post-globalization. Yet Tokyo is by no means an exception to the world. The genealogy of mega events continues with London, Paris, and Los Angeles. Readers of this book will learn both the multi-layered urban meaning of mega-events and the new possibilities of cross-disciplinary urban research from the "thick description" of the city.

Takashi Machimura

Professor of Tokyo Keizai University, Professor emeritus of Hitotsubashi University, Former trustee of IJURR Foundation

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This is a first-rate collection of chapters that critically, analytically, and empirically refutes the view that the Olympic Games are merely a massive sporting event. The focus of most of the chapters is on the way in which ?Tokyo 2020? (the Tokyo Summer and Paralympic Games) ? unprecedentedly postponed for one year due to the COVID 19 pandemic ? was used by various stakeholders to attempt to create an economic stimulus, give urban planning a boost, and sow the seeds for greater capital development in Japan. Primarily the work of Japanese urban geographers, with a more theoretical contribution by Hyun Bang Shin (LSE) on mega-events as spectacles, the other chapters deal with topics such as the rescaling of former global cities, the wastefulness of the construction of elite sports facilities for short periods of time, and the increasing securitization of public space. This book is a great addition to the stock of works that critically reflect on the hosting of the Olympics.

John Horne

Formerly Professor in the Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan