Post-Olympics Japan: Renewal or Failure?
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The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were held in the summer of 2021. What impact did the Games have? And how big was the gap between prior expectations and concrete results?
The online workshop on October 7 -8, 2021, organised by Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci (Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich) and Dr. Iris Wieczorek (GIGA Institute for Asian Studies), will focus on these topics.
Event Information
October 7, 2021, 4:00 PM to October 8, 2021, 7:30 PM
Online
Organizer(s): Prof. Dr. David Chiavacci (Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich), Dr. Iris Wieczorek (GIGA Institute for Asian Studies)
Date: October 7 -8, 2021
Time: 16:00–19:30 (JST) / 9:00–12:30 (CEST )
Language: English
Envisaged as an event to remind the world of Japan’s leadership aspirations and innovation power and to fully establish it as a tourism magnet, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 have turned out to be a completely different story. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games had to be postponed to 2021 and eventually took place from 23 July until 8 August during a declared state of emergency banning fans from the venues. As Japan had been facing a fifth COVID-19 wave ahead of the Olympic Games, a large majority of Japan’s population preferred to delay it for another year or even to cancel it altogether. What was meant to be a showcase of the abilities of the current government and a culmination of its achievements, caused another plunge of Prime Minister Suga`s approval ratings and thus became an important factor for his decision to step down in view of the upcoming elections this fall.
Two months after the Olympic Games 2021, an online workshop will be held on October 7–8 about the impact of the Games and the gap between original aspirations and concrete results. Therefore, sessions on the following topics will be given: the political economy of Olympics, political communication, historic perspectives, diversity, social movements and voluntarism, technology and innovation, mass media and public discourse. The panel discussion at the end of the Workshop tackles the question: “What remains?”
The GIGA is conducting the online workshop in cooperation with the University of Zurich (UZH) and the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan (VSJF).
For more information and to register, please click on the “Website” link above in the box.