“Written by leading experts on Japanese sport and society, this is the perfect guide for anyone – sports fan, tourist, or armchair viewer – wanting to know the inside story about the Games and Japan in the 21st century.” Packed with information about the city, Olympic sports, and wider social issues in Japan, the book provides snapshots, in a pocket-sized form, of the essential background to the Olympics in 2020. John Horne, Waseda University, Japan “This is the first – and possibly only – book which explains contemporary Japan through the prism of the Olympics and the Olympics through the lens of Japanese society. Full of fascinating insights and information, it is sure to become a bible for anyone intending to attend (or even just watch) the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Definitely a winner.” Roger Goodman, University of Oxford, UK “There is much more on the line at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics than the competition among the athletes. The impacts of the Games them- selves, and their lead-up and legacy, will be equally portentous for Tokyo and for Japan. This comprehensive collection by experienced Japan researchers offers highly informative and smartly written commentaries on the social, political, and economic ramifications of Tokyo 2020. Urban infrastructure, regional disparities, food sustainability, school curriculum, political jockeying, LGBTQ rights, and language diversity are just some of the topics surveyed in these absorbing essays. This is an essential briefing for anyone wishing to know what is at stake as Tokyo hosts this global sporting mega-event.” William W. Kelly, Yale University, USA “This book is the perfect companion for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Its short, readable chapters by Japan specialists are full of intriguing informa- tion about past and present Olympics in Tokyo, and how hosting the Olympic games reshapes the city of Tokyo. The authors are solid scholars with deep experience of living and working in Tokyo. They dig far beyond the tourist images to show us how the Olympics either help to overcome social problems or simply hide them from view. Take this book along as you ride the trains and explore the city. It will be valuable long after the last medal has been awarded.” Patricia Steinhoff, University of Hawaii, USA “This volume assembles scholars with a broad spectrum of expertise who provide a thorough overview of the key topics surrounding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Most impressive is that it blends keen analysis of the major issues for Japan with equally keen analysis of the major issues for the Olympic Games. This insightful overview of the intersection of Japan with the Olympics has something for everyone, whether academics, journalists, fans of Olympics, or fans of Japan.” Susan Brownell, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA “This is a richly informative book by social scientists analyzing numerous facets of Japan, Tokyo, and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics from multiple perspectives. The 34 chapters cover a wide range of topics – including politics, economy, society, culture, media, cinema, architecture, and, of course, sports – to provide the reader with keen insights into how, in leading up to 2020, Japan is shaping, and being shaped, by the Olym- pics. An outstanding guide for those seeking to understand contemporary Japan and its future direction.” Glen S. Fukushima, Former President, American Chamber of Commerce, Japan Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics This book situates the 2020 Tokyo Olympics within the social, economic, and political challenges facing contemporary Japan. Using the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a lens into the city and the country as a whole, the stellar line up of contributors offers hidden insights and new perspectives on the Games. These include city planning, cultural politics, financial issues, language use, security, education, volunteerism, and con- struction work. The chapters then go on to explore the many stakeholders, institutions, citizens, interest groups, and protest groups involved, and feature the struggle over Tokyo’s extreme summer heat, food standards, the implementation of diversity around disabilities, sexual minorities, and technological innovations. Giving short glimpses into the new Olympic sports, this book also analyses the role of these sports in Japanese society. Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics will be of huge interest to anyone attending the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. It will also be useful to students and scholars of the Olympics and the sociology of sport, as well as Japanese culture and society. Barbara Holthus, Ph.D., is a sociologist and deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan. Her main research interests include marriage and the family, childcare, happiness and well- being, media, as well as demographic change. Publications include Life Course, Happiness and Well-being in Japan (2017, Routledge, ed. with W. Manzenreiter). Isaac Gagné, Ph.D., a cultural anthropologist, is a senior research fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan and managing editor of Contemporary Japan. He works on mental health and social welfare, morality and ethics, and religion. Publications include “Religious globalization and reflexive secularization in a Japanese new religion” (2017, Japan Review). Wolfram Manzenreiter is professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His research is concerned with social and anthropolog- ical aspects of sports, emotions, rural Japan, and transnational networks of the Japanese diaspora. Publications include Sport and Body Politics in Japan (2014, Routledge). Franz Waldenberger is an economist and director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on the Japanese Economy in comparative perspective. Recent publications include “Society 5.0. Japanese ambitions and initiatives” in The Digital Future (2018, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung). Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics Edited by Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter, and Franz Waldenberger First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter and Franz Waldenberger; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter and Franz Waldenberger to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis. com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Names: Holthus, Barbara G., editor. | Gagné, Isaac, editor. | Manzenreiter, Wolfram, editor. | Waldenberger, Franz, 1961- editor. | Routledge (Firm) Title: Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics / edited by Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter and Franz Waldenberger . Description: First Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019058163 (print) | LCCN 2019058164 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367469573 (Hardback) | ISBN 9780367471682 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781003033905 (eBook) | ISBN 9781000057591 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781000057652 (mobi) | ISBN 9781000057713 (ePub) Subjects: LCSH: Olympics–Planning. | Olympics–Political aspects–Japan–Tokyo. | Olympics–Economic aspects–Japan–Tokyo. | Olympics–Social aspects–Japan–Tokyo. | Olympics–Security measures–Japan–Tokyo–Planning. | Japan–Social life and customs. | Popular culture–Japan–Tokyo. Classification: LCC GV721.5 .J36 2020 (print) | LCC GV721.5 (ebook) | DDC 796.48–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019058163 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019058164 ISBN: 978-0-367-46957-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-47168-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-03390-5 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear Contents List of figures xi List of contributors xiii Preface xiv Postscript: the New Olympic Race against COVID-19 xvii 1 Understanding Japan through the lens of Tokyo 2020 1 BarBara HOLTHUS, ISaaC GaGNé, WOLFRAM MANZENREITER, FRANZ WALDENBERGER 2 Olympics and the media 8 WOLFRAM MANZENREITER 3 Skateboarding: “f*** the Olympics” 12 WOLFRAM MANZENREITER 4 Political Games 13 AXEL KLEIN 5 Number Games: the economic impact of Tokyo 2020 18 FRANZ WALDENBERGER 6 Climbing: new sport on the block 25 WOLFRAM MANZENREITER 7 Advertising the Games: sponsoring a new era 26 ISaaC GaGNé 8 Karate: bowing to the Olympics in style 32 WOLFRAM MANZENREITER viii Contents 9 Herculean efforts: what the construction of the Olympic Stadium reveals about working conditions in Japan 33 STEFFEN HEINRICH 10 Tokyo 2020 and neighborhood transformation: reworking the entrepreneurial city 39 RALPH LÜTZELER 11 Ho(s)t city: Tokyo’s fight against the summer heat 46 JaN LUkaS kUHN 12 Tokyo’s architecture and urban structure: change in an ever- changing