Tokyo Prepares for 2020 Olympics

PHOTO: The 2020 Olympics could bring a cable car system to Tokyo’s Ginza District. (Photos courtesy of Japan National Tourism Office)

The stirrings of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are beginning to be felt in the Japanese capital. On Tuesday, April 22, the first meeting of government ministers regarding the games convened. On May 28 and 29 a group of top Japanese pop bands will perform at the National Olympic Stadium, scene and symbol of the enormously successful 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The stadium will be demolished in 2015 for a new stadium.

The potential of these games to invigorate Japan and Tokyo have expectations running high. Japanese authorities hope the games will apply an adrenal shot of inspiration to lift Japanese esprit d’ corps and to shake off the memory of what seemed like a decades-long recession.

In 1964, the Olympics were a coming out party for a city still under the fog of World War II. In those Olympics, the Bullet Train was launched along with a monorail and what was at the time a modern expressway system. In a brilliant article, Cameron McKean cites a 2012 quote from a city official observing that the ’64 Olympics, “formed the foundation for Tokyo’s current prosperity.”

Can the games do it again in 2020? Government officials recently estimated that the 2020 Olympics could boost Japan’s GDP by an additional 0.5 percent, creating a positive impact estimated at ¥4.2 trillion. The 8.5 million tourists that the Tokyo metropolitan government estimates will visit Japan for the 2020 Olympics is greater than the total number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2012. While such lofty expectations may be unrealistic, Japan should benefit from the energy and developmental intensity an Olympic Games usually brings.

Japan’s top travel agency, the Japan Travel Bureau (JTB) is forecasting ¥300 billion in revenues from sports-related operations in fiscal 2020, about 10 times the agency’s current revenues. “Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games will enable Japan to demonstrate to the world that it can safely and comfortably host international sporting competitions,” said JTB President Hiromi Tagawa. A new sport division within JTB will be launched in December with an objective to attract large sports events that will build up to an Olympic climax.

The word “safely” in Tagawa’s comment is significant. The March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant earthquake and tsunami continues to haunt the Japanese people. The government sees these Olympics as a way to demonstrate confidence and command to a people that have lost faith in government’s ability to handle crises competently and decisively. Confidence in government honesty and competence took the same kind of beating in Japan after that crisis that the U.S. government took in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Tokyo Changes

One of the main reasons Tokyo won the bid over Istanbul and Madrid to host the games was the fact that so much of the Olympic infrastructure was already in place thanks to Tokyo’s hosting of the 1964 Olympics. Though Istanbul promised $18 billion in investments, Tokyo’s existing infrastructure and $5 billion already dedicated to the $6 billion program necessary to make the city ready, sealed the deal.

Though most of Tokyo’s Olympic facilities are already in place, there will be some additions and changes in Tokyo. Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Stadium, an important stage of the ’64 games, is being retrofitted by architect Zaha Hadid to give it a new look. Officials are also considering the addition of a $210 million cable car system that will be used to connect the Olympics sites to the Ginza district. The cable cars would, as London’s did, become a part of the city’s tourism. Koto, one of Tokyo’s 23 wards, will be home to about half of the newly constructed sites.

The Tsukiji Market, one of the city’s top attractions and the largest fish market in all of Japan, will receive a new shopping and entertainment complex. The 1.7 hectare Senkyaku Banrai complex will comprise four buildings that will house the Toyosu outer market, a food court for 1,000 customers, cooking schools, a tourist information center, a traditional bath house and a market dedicated to traditional Japanese handicrafts. The facility is scheduled to open in March 2016 and they expect it to attract 4.2 million visitors annually.

PHOTO: The rooftop bar from Tokyo’s Andaz Hotel might be a good place to watch the Olympics from in 2020.

Last year, historic Tokyo Station got a complete renovation and the area around the station is under development including a new commercial complex called Granroof which connects the Gran Tokyo North and South Towers, east of the station. This retail space covers more than 200,000 square feet. Another commercial complex named Ootemori was also recently unveiled in the Otemachi district, to the west of Tokyo Station. A 150-room Courtyard by Marriott Tokyo Station is also under development. The luxury Japanese ryokan-style hotel chain Hoshino Resorts will also open a new property in the vicinity. When it opens the 164-room Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills will have a rooftop bar atop the second-tallest high rise in Tokyo.

Last year was a good one for Japan, as it attracted 10.4 million visitors. The 10 millionth international visitor arrived at Narita International Airport of Tokyo on Dec. 20. When the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) launched the Visit Japan campaign in 2003, it set a goal of 10 million visitors, though they couldn’t anticipate the global economic recession, the currency exchange rate in favor of the Japanese Yen, and the natural disaster in 2011, this achievement became even more special to the Japanese tourism industry.