Japan’s Olympic Summer Games – Past and Present, Part II

By:

March 1, 2020

Japan’s Olympic Summer Games – Past and Present, Part II
Japan’s Olympic Summer Games – Past and Present, Part II

Volume 18 | Issue 5 | Number 1

Article ID 5358

https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/article-419.pdf

 

In this collection of essays our authors explore a range of issues not covered in Part 1, examining the broader impact of the Olympic Movement, efforts to spin the message and whether hosting the games is worth the extravagant costs. Two authors focus on the Paralympics, another presents excerpts from a graphic guide to the Olympics while others delve into previous Olympics, what they represented and how they influence the 2020 games. There are also several essays on opposition to the Olympics and lingering concerns about how the government has managed the Fukushima nuclear accident. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic casts an ominous shadow over the games, amid concerns that Prime Minister Abe is sacrificing public health through inaction and minimizing risks in order to save the Olympics. – Jeff Kingston, Editor

 

See the Table of Contents for Part I here. 

For an update as of 3/29/2020, reflecting the postponement of the 2020 Olympics, see here.

 


The Olympic rings displayed on a floating barge at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo.
Photo credit: Tomoko Ueta.

 


Introduction for Part II by Jeff Kingston

Olympic Moment

1 – William Kelly – Bringing the Circus to Town: An Anatomy of the Olympic Movement

2 – Stephen Wade – Did the 2016 Olympics change Rio de Janeiro? Not Much – At Least Not for the Good

 

Fool’s Gold

3 – David McNeill – Spinning the Rings: The Media and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

4 – Michael A. Leeds – Can Cities Bring Home the Gold?: What Economic Theory Tells Us about Hosting the Olympic Games

5 – Eva Marikova Leeds – Tokyo 2020: Public Cost and Private Benefit

 

Paralympics

6 – Anoma P. van der Veere – The Tokyo Paralympic Superhero: Manga and Narratives of Disability in Japan

7 – Susan S. Lee – Promises of Accessibility for the Tokyo 2020 Games

 

Looking Back

8 – Mark Schreiber – 1940 Tokyo: The Olympiad that Never Was 

9 – Christian Tagsold – Symbolic Transformation: The 1964 Tokyo Games Reconsidered

 

Dissenting Opinions

10 – Taro Nettleton – Light, Currency, Spectacle, and War: Kobayashi Erika’s She Waited (2019)

11 – Koide Hideaki, translated by Norma Field – The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and the Tokyo Olympics

12 – Shaun Burnie – Radiation Disinformation and Human Rights Violations at the Heart of Fukushima and the Olympic Games

13 – Akihiro Ogawa – As If Nothing Had Occurred: Anti-Tokyo Olympics Protests and Concern Over Radiation Exposure

14 – Sonja Ganseforth – Anti-Olympic rallying points, public alienation, and transnational alliances 

15 – William Andrews – Playful Protests and Contested Urban Space: the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Protest Movement 

16 – Alexis Dudden – An Opportunity for Japan to Change People’s Perception 

17 – Sean Michael Wilson, illustrated by Makiko Kodama – ‘Tokyo and Olympics Guide’

 


Share with a colleague:

Volume 18 | Issue 5 | Number 1

Article ID 5358

https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/article-419.pdf
About the author:

This is the Table of Contents of the Special Issue: Japan’s Olympic Summer Games — Past and Present, Part II.

 

Jeff Kingston is Director of Asian Studies and Professor of History at Temple University, Japan. Most recently, he wrote The Politics of Religion, Nationalism and Identity (2019) and Japan (2019), edited Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan (2019, rev 2nd ed.) and Press Freedom in Contemporary Japan (2017)) and co-edited Press Freedom in Contemporary Asia (2019) and Japan’s Foreign Relations with Asia (2018). His current research focuses on transitional justice and the politics of memory.
[email protected]

The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus is a peer-reviewed publication, providing critical analysis of the forces shaping the Asia-Pacific and the world.

    About the author:

    This is the Table of Contents of the Special Issue: Japan’s Olympic Summer Games — Past and Present, Part II.

     

    Jeff Kingston is Director of Asian Studies and Professor of History at Temple University, Japan. Most recently, he wrote The Politics of Religion, Nationalism and Identity (2019) and Japan (2019), edited Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan (2019, rev 2nd ed.) and Press Freedom in Contemporary Japan (2017)) and co-edited Press Freedom in Contemporary Asia (2019) and Japan’s Foreign Relations with Asia (2018). His current research focuses on transitional justice and the politics of memory.
    [email protected]

    JOIN OVER 20,000 SUBSCRIBERS

    Our monthly newsletter provides readers with an in-depth analysis of forces shaping the Asia-Pacific and the world.

      Since 2002

      Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus has produced critical reporting on geopolitics, economics, history, environment, and international relations.