A Progress Report: Tokyo 2020

With the end of the FIFA World Cup in Russia and the winter Olympic games in PyeongChang, the next big event is the summer Olympics of 2020, which are set to be held in the city of Tokyo, Japan. The excitement for this much-awaited event is at its peak as Japan hits the two-year mark until its opening. But along with the approach of the games, the government has started to raise some concerns, such as the delay of the preparation for the event.

The last time Japan hosted a summer Olympic was in 1964, over 50 years ago. Since then, many environmental and societal conditions have changed, leaving Tokyo with a pile of issues to resolve. One of the biggest changes that needed to be made was the reconstruction of the main venue for the games, the National Stadium. In the 1964 Olympic, the stadium was used for soccer and track and field events. Due to the severe aging of the building, the government decided to rebuild the arena, naming it the New National Stadium. Despite having a rough start with the slow progress of construction, the stadium is planned to finish by November of 2019.

With the number of athletes that will be staying in Japan for the 16 days, the Olympic Village is without a doubt necessary. For the location to construct this village, Japan chose Tsukiji, an area in Tokyo right beside the New National Stadium. The name, ‘Tsukiji’ may ring a bell to many foreigners. In fact, this area is best known for the Tsukiji Fish Market, a must-go tourist spot. In order to construct the village, Japan decided on the relocation of the Fish Market, which finally happened this October after a two-year delay.

With the major parts of the construction for the Olympics finally on their way to completion, the government has shifted their focus to the improvement of the city itself. In order to welcome all the athletes and sports-fans, Japan listed the goal to become barrier-free as one of their top priorities. Full barrier-free access means that all of the city’s facilities (such as train stations, shopping malls, and sidewalks) are available to the disabled, which could include having step-free access to public transportation or wheelchair friendly hotels. Although Japan has largely improved their accessibility of public facilities in the community throughout the past few years, the reality is that most of these improvements are manual, or in other words, non-automated. If a person in a wheelchair wanted to ride the train, the driver would have to exit the train, set up the handicap ramp, and push the wheelchair onto the train. This takes about five minutes in total. In a city that is predicted to experience extreme traffic congestion, those five minutes could be a deadly cost.

Another big concern that the government raised was the extremely high temperatures of the summer season. This July, Kumagaya city, located in a prefecture just above Tokyo, reached a highest of 41.1 degrees Celsius, setting the new record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Japan. Adding to that, one cannot go through Japan’s summer without hearing the continuous reports of hospitalized heatstroke patients. During a single week of September, the number of hospitalized patients reached 111 people. This is because the sun tends to rise fairly early in the mornings of June, July, and August; by noon, the temperature is already extremely high. Because of these concerns, there have been talks within the government of adopting Summertime in the year 2020 by advancing the clocks forward two hours. However, to many Japanese citizens, the concept of Summertime seems so foreign that even the phrase itself sounds unfamiliar to hear. The proposal of incorporating the daylight saving time faced huge backlash on social media with many raising concerns of its impact on working hours. While this change may not be welcomed with open arms by the citizens, the government is still putting Summertime under consideration for the 2020 Olympics.

Despite facing some obstacles, the preparation for the coming Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 is well underway for Japan. The committee has started gathering people to volunteer at the games and around the city, as well as encouraging many restaurants and souvenir shops in Tokyo to hire bilingual workers. For students, the summer Olympic is a perfect chance to refresh and transition into the new academic year. There are less than two years until the whole world gets to witness the drama of the competitive games once again. The wait is almost coming to an end! Will you be watching the next Olympics?

For a live countdown until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, please visit their official site. For more information on Tokyo’s preparation for the Olympics, please visit 2020games.metro.tokyo.jp, soccer-king.jp, sankei.com, fdma.co.jp, bbc.com.