Tokyo 2020: Hosting Olympics was meant to be Japan’s major soft power play but it’s all gone wrong

Even before it begins, holding the Olympic Games in Tokyo has felt like an energy-sapping endurance event. Originally scheduled for last summer and postponed due to the pandemic, the decision to go ahead has been widely questioned.

As the action unfolds, Japan’s capital city will be under a state of emergency. The whole world will be watching a government seeking to manage the most prestigious sport mega-event against the backdrop of a global public-health crisis.

Officials will be anxious to ensure the Games do not become widely remembered as a superspreading event. At the same time, they will be desperate to salvage something from an event that was supposed to engage sport as a means to bring about economic, social and political change in Japan.

The decision to bid for hosting rights was made shortly after the Fukushima tsunami in 2011. An Olympic Games was seen as being a positive step in helping the country recover from the tragedy.

Around the same time, Japan’s government passed laws designed to promote national happiness and prosperity through sport. Seen from this vantage point, the Games have always been intended to leave the country more prosperous.

Nevertheless, when Shinzo Abe became prime minister in 2012, Japan’s hosting of the Olympics took on a different complexion. Abe saw it as a way to fundamentally change his country’s…

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