How Japan Is Coping with the 2020 Olympics Delay

Despite the dubious economic benefits, many Japanese are still in favor of the country hosting the 2020 Olympics (Source)

The modern summer Olympics have taken place every four years since 1896. There have only been three exceptions: in 1916, 1940 and 1944, the games were cancelled because of the World Wars. As evidence of the magnitude of our current global crisis, there is another irregularity to add to the list. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to announce that the planned 2020 Tokyo games “must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.” Soon after, the Committee set a new start date of July 21, 2021.

While this decision is dramatic, it was an inevitability. At a time when people are discouraged from so much as leaving their homes, holding a weeks-long competition involving thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world would have been unthinkably irresponsible. The move to delay the games, however, will still be difficult.

The Japanese government, the IOC, the city of Tokyo, and local businesses have spent considerable resources preparing for an influx of athletes and tourists in the summer, but now they must wait another year to reap the benefits. A number of measures are now being taken to protect businesses — and, by extension, the wider economy — from negative impacts. Notably, the government is considering no-interest loans to affected businesses like hotels, which lost bookings from the sudden change. The 2021 games will even keep the title of “2020 Olympics” as not to affect merchandising. But this cannot recoup all of the damage. Economist Katsuhiro Miyamoto told ESPN that the Tokyo games were expected to cost $30 billion and this delay could add an additional $5.7 billion. Japanese taxpayers will bear the brunt of the burden.

This has been a source of understandable controversy. The rapid and unexpected spread of COVID-19 in a matter of weeks led to a panicked decision-making process over how to handle it. The influential Asahi Shimbun newspaper has criticized the IOC and Japanese government for their response, but so far the international community has been graceful in assessing Japan’s approach to this impossibly challenging and unforeseeable problem.

The incident also re-awakened long-standing disputes over the Olympic Games. While cities compete fiercely for the chance to host the contests, the actual economic benefit is highly debated. In most cases, the games spur cities to make massive expenditures that yield very few long-term benefits. The last Tokyo Olympics in 1964 were mired by poor planning and corruption, massive expenditures, poor labor standards, and environmental destruction. While the delay of the 2020 Olympics has emboldened dissenters within Japan who wish the Tokyo games cancelled altogether, polls suggest that these pleas come from only 10 percent of the population. The vast majority of people in Japan remain glad to hold the games, despite additional costs. The Olympics hold massive cultural sway and remain a strong source of national pride, which – for better or worse – goes beyond direct material benefits.