Game Changer Project’ Between the Netherlands and Japan: Leveraging Disability Sports in Local Communities in Japan
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Working research paper A Study of Tokyo 2020 ‘Game Changer Project’ between the Netherlands and Japan: Leveraging Disability Sports in Local Communities in Japan A preliminary report of the Road to Tokyo 2020 Research Project* Author: Anoma P. van der Veere This study is funded by LeidenAsiaCentre. The LeidenAsiaCentre is an independent research centre affiliated with Leiden University and made possible by a grant from the Vaes Elias Fund. The centre focuses on academic research with direct application to society. All research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide variety of partners from Dutch society. More information can be found on our website: www.leidenasiacentre.nl For contact or orders: [email protected] M. de Vrieshof 3, 2311 BZ Leiden, The Netherlands *This publication is an abridged and preliminary version of the final report. The complete research findings will be published following the Paralympic Games in 2021 and the conclusion of the Game Changer Project organized by the NOC*NSF and Japan Sport Council in conjunction with Edogawa Ward, Adachi Ward, and Nishitokyo City. Abstract The “Game Changer Project” (GCP) is an on-going effort to spread disability sports in Japan using the Tokyo 2020 Games as a catalyst for change. The project offers valuable insights into how positive outcomes for sports mega-events (SME) can be realized through strategic leveraging, rather than relying on ambiguous conceptualizations such as “legacy”. Exploring how disability is viewed in Japan, the importance of education and community in creating an inclusive environment, this study contextualizes the GCP’s contents and approaches and details the different interests and factors that have influenced the facility of disability sports in the GCP’s three participating municipalities: Adachi Ward, Edogawa Ward, and Nishitokyo City. Ranging from a top-down to a bottom-up approach, policymakers have taken different approaches while considering their local contexts in creating a practical strategy for leveraging disability sports. There are, however, similarities among the steps taken: all municipalities focused on (local) stakeholder integration. Rather than building a whole new infrastructure for disability sports, they focused their efforts on connecting local organizations with existing sports facilities. This report offers insights into how leveraging for positive outcomes of an SME works in practice, and how this is done through a combination of international cooperation and placing responsibility on local stakeholders by using a (municipal) community-based approach. In short, the study shows that strategic leveraging in the host community is more effective than relying on the promise of a general legacy. Keywords: Paralympics; Tokyo 2020; Japan; Olympics; leveraging; legacy 1 Introduction The “Game Changer Project” (GCP) is an on-going effort to promote disability sports in Tokyo during the run-up to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project was started by the Dutch Olympic Committee and Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF) and the Japan Sport Council (JSC). Concisely, the GCP’s aim is to spread disability sports in Japan using the Tokyo 2020 Games as a catalyst for change. Although the project remains unfinished (due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the 2020 Games), there have already been significant developments that offer valuable insights into how positive outcomes for sports mega-events (SME’s) can be realized through strategic leveraging. This preliminary report starts with an overview of the Paralympic Games and the concept of “inclusion” through sports. It proceeds to detail how this concept has affected Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Games, and how the organizing committees have formulated the Games’ “legacy”. Legacy is an ambiguous term that has spawned a range of studies. The term, however, remains vague. Rather than rely on legacy, therefore, this study opts to use the term “leveraging”, a more concrete concept that is applicable to the particularities of the GCP. The report continues by exploring how disability is viewed in Japan, emphasizing the importance of education and community in creating an inclusive environment. It proceeds by detailing the GCP’s contents and the different approaches taken by the various parties involved in the project. In particular, the analysis in the overview details the different interests and factors that have influenced the programming of the GCP by focusing on the contributions and efforts made by the three municipalities involved in the project: Adachi Ward, Edogawa Ward, and Nishitokyo City. The three municipalities have taken different approaches in leveraging the project to organize disability sports in their communities. Ranging from a top-down to a bottom-up approach, it is clear that policymakers have to consider their local contexts in creating a practical strategy for leveraging disability sports. There are, however, similarities among the steps taken. For instance, all municipalities focused on (local) stakeholder integration. Rather than building a whole new infrastructure for disability sports, they focused their efforts on connecting local organizations with existing sports facilities. In short, this report offers a preliminary overview of how leveraging strategies have been formulated in practice, what kind of effects they have had, and how leveraging is done through international cooperation on a community-level. The Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games is a sports mega-event (SME) for athletes with a disability. It is the largest sports event for people with disabilities and the second largest SME in the world, second only to the Olympic Games.1 There are summer and winter editions held once every four years,2 and these are overseen by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and organized by the 1 “History of the Paralympic Movement,” IPC, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.paralympic.org/ipc/history; Ian Brittain, The Paralympic Games Explained (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016), 9. 2 This study focuses on the summer editions. 2 Organizing Committee(s) of the hosting nation. 3 Since the 1988 Games in Seoul, the Paralympics have been held in the same location as the Olympics.4 Although a sports event, the organizers of the Paralympics emphatically focus on “diversity and inclusion” as a key part of their mission.5 The IPC places a lot of weight on the role of inclusion in the Paralympic Movement, stating that “Diversity is a reality. Inclusion is a choice.”6 Organizing disability sports is thus connected to promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities. The Paralympic Movement’s most fundamental mission is the “empowerment” of people with disabilities, with sport as the main vehicle driving this change forward.7 These ideas, and in particular the idea of “inclusion”, gained significant traction during the run-up to the London 2012 Games. The London Games were the largest Paralympics to date. Daily media coverage improved visibility of the Games and several events sold out completely.8 Following the closing ceremony, this media success led to claims of a positive legacy for people with disabilities in the United Kingdom.9 Research has been critical of these claims, as measurable positive effects have remained scarce and there is a substantial disconnect between the media portrayals of Paralympians and the lived realities of people with disabilities.10 London 2012 therefore serves as an example of how legacy can be rhetorically salient, yet realistically deficient. Regardless of these results, the theme of inclusion found its way into the Rio 2016 Summer Games,11 and has now become prominently associated with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic legacy. 3 “Paralympic Games | All Editions,” IPC, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.paralympic.org/paralympic- games 4 “Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games,” IPC, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.paralympic.org/seoul-1988. 5 “IPC Diversity and Inclusion Policy,” IPC, January 2017, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/170313091602678_2017_January_IPC+Diversity+and +Inclusion+Policy_FINAL.pdf 6 Ibid. 7 There are several relevant critiques of the Paralympic Movement’s ability to actually “empower”. See for example: Danielle Peers, “(Dis)empowering Paralympic Histories: Absent Athletes and Disabling Discourses,” Disability & Society 24, no. 5 (2009): 653, https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590903011113. 8 Ian Burrell, “Paralympic Coverage beyond ‘Wildest Dreams’ says Governing Body as they appeal for continued Coverage of Sports,” Independent, September 10, 2012, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/paralympics/paralympic-coverage-beyond-wildest-dreams-says- governing-body-as-they-appeal-for-continued-coverage-8120602.html. 9 Cabinet Office UK, “Inspired by 2012: The Legacy from the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” A Joint UK Government and Mayor of London Report, Second Annual Report – Summer 2014, July, 2014, accessed June 6, 2020, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335774/14072 3_Inspired_by_2012_-_2nd_annual_legacy_report_-_accessible.pdf; “London 2012 Legacy Continues to be felt across the UK,” Olympic, July 25, 2014, accessed June 6, 2020, https://www.olympic.org/news/london-2012- legacy-continues-to-be-felt-across-the-uk. 10 For a careful examination of the London 2012 legacy for people with disabilities, see: Ian Brittain and Aaron Beacom, “Leveraging the London