Tokyo Olympics: ‘soft power’ play for Japan at stake as country tries to salvage pandemic Games

Japan bid for its second Summer Olympics to showcase itself on the world’s stage the same way the 1964 Games did after second world war

Now, amid a pandemic curveball and tense relations with China, the country will find it tough to pull off a soft power win under Yoshihide Suga

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Tokyo 2020 was originally billed as an economic coming-out party and soft power tactic from former prime minister Shinzo Abe before the pandemic changed the narrative drastically. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00am, 26 Jul 2021Updated: 8:58am, 5 Aug 2021

The earliest machinations of the bidding process for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics date back to the early 2000s and Japan’s desire to hold a second coming-out party.

Japan put in bids for the 2012 Summer Olympics (London) and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro), finally succeeding in 2013 when they were awarded the 2020 edition. It was not without a sense of alarm, as it involved a last-second political play by then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. He flew to Buenos Aires to reassure the International Olympic Committee over ill-timed reports of new leaks at the power plant in Fukushima hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Tokyo first held the Summer Olympics in 1964, billed as a coming-out party for the nation after the second world war. Now, on the heels of a global pandemic, Japan finds itself trying to turn the Games into a soft power win for the ages. The term ‘soft power’ was first coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye and is described as a nation’s ability to shape its image on an international level through positive means.

“What’s interesting is the generation that is in power right now, including (Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide) Suga, would remember those Games and how important they were for Japan from the mid-60s, right up until the mid-80s and even later,” said Jack Anderson, the director of Sports Law Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Tokyo 2020 delegation members celebrate winning the bid to host the Olympic Games. Much has changed since then. Photo: AFP

“And the whole idea behind bidding for these Games back in 2013 was to mark an economic revival for Japan in terms of the economy having stagnated in the ‘90s. So it was to mark that, and also to mark Japan’s resilience in the face of many natural disasters and (Fukushima), so it was kind of sold as a reset for Japan in many ways.”