The 2020 Tokyo Olympics was suspended until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The postponement decision came after talks between Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan. However, the disruption of the Tokyo Olympics significantly impacted Japan’s political, economic, and social environment. The rescheduling meant a big blow to Japan, which had spent a lot of money on the occasion, the broadcasters, and the sponsors. The research study is aimed at exploring the impacts associated with the rescheduling on the Olympics activities. The investigation will examine the outcomes of the decision on economic, social and political perspectives. The deferral of Olympics led to social effects such as reduced happiness levels and low esteem, economic crisis which include disrupted financial gains from various sectors, and political waves such as geopolitical rivalry.
Social Impacts
When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus as a pandemic in March 2020, the sports domain waited for the decision of the IOC concerning the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It received criticisms from health experts and the international sports board for their hesitant reactions to the pandemic. However, the IOC firmly postponed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics events, becoming the first time since the Olympic events were launched. The delay showed the significance of the unparallel health crisis due to the coronavirus occurrence in the sports world. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics suspension led to significant social impacts such as psychological damage and low happiness levels. The Olympics often enhanced the subjective happiness of London citizens during the occasion (Yamamura & Tsutsui, 2020). The unpaid voluntary personnel and Olympic fans had psychologically planned to take part in the occasion.
The Tokyo Olympics suspension possibly affected the mental state of Olympics fans and Japanese patriots. The Japanese also had an indirect responsibility of spreading the Japanese culture to visitors within the country. Additionally, with the outbreak of the coronavirus and successive delays of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, various social issues were raised among Japanese residents. The concerns ranged from managing social isolation, minimized social support, and social distancing to managing bans and limitations of training potentials and career disruptions. Furthermore, the Japanese faced challenges in managing insecurities about athletes’ health status, sponsorship bonds, future funding, and concerns about the Olympic criterion process and status (Oblinger-Peters & Krenn, 2020). The postponement, therefore, resulted in worries among both the stakeholders and the Japanese people concerning the required social standards and future sports status.
The Japanese’s social life was also altered with the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Occasion. Therefore, to contain the pandemic, the WHO issued some containment measures that affected the social life of individuals. As the WHO guidelines, individuals had to maintain social distance and avoid crowded areas. The unique conditions provided by the Coronavirus pandemic rendered the Tokyo Olympic event a career transform-event, composed of a multi-phase change procedure, thereby entailing various social and psychological concerns for athletes. Research shows that some of the psychological effects of the coronavirus pandemic include enhanced levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress (Kato, 2021). Moreover, others include emotional exhaustion, confusion, fear, grief, and anger.
The disruption of the Tokyo Olympics further negatively affected the well-being and mental health of Japanese citizens and athletes. In their national pursuit of economic and social growth through the spread of Japanese culture, the challenge of a global health calamity and the delay of the Tokyo Olympics events led to detrimental mental effects. Research showed that the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics would affect the mental health of the Japanese stakeholders and citizens whose expectations had become disrupted (Oblinger-Peters & Krenn, 2020). The declaration of the IOC’s verdict through Japan’s Prime Minister, Abe, inspired several global media attention and interviews of citizens and participants’ responses to the suspension. Personal social interview channels of the Japanese Olympic participants and citizens illustrated the mental instability that the postponement had created within the realm of the Tokyo Olympics.
Economic Impacts
When Japan’s economy had already toppled, the suspension of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a significant blow. Suspending the Olympics would abolish about 1.4% of Japan’s financial output (Belli & Saracoglu, 2021). Japan had invested approximately ten billion dollars in the Olympics after outdoing Istanbul and Madrid in the contract rights to conduct the event (Belli & Saracoglu, 2021). The delay indeed increased costs and the financial budget for the event. For instance, tenancies on contracts with workers and competition venues had to be extended.
Another economic challenge of postponing Olympics included managing the broadcast indentures. Broadcast rights contribute substantial returns for the International Olympic Board (IOB). About three-quarters of IOC proceeds originate from broadcast deals (Hums, 2021). Additionally, nearly half of the returns are funded by the United States broadcaster, NBC. According to research, broadcast affiliates and other Games affiliates often demand a discount on their toll whenever significant amendments to the Olympic Games occur or organizers lower the number of games (Holthus et al., 2020). When Japan’s Tokyo Olympics were postponed to 2021, they incurred significant losses on broadcast rights.
The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan led to a loss of the significant amount of revenue due to a lack of spectators. Research shows that due to the spread of the coronavirus in Tokyo, the choice to hold the occasion without observers under the state of emergency became inevitable. However, there is a possibility that approximately 80% of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics events’ financial effects had already happened a year before the occasion (Mai, 2022). Furthermore, according to the upward swing of the fiscal growth rate of nations that have held the Olympic Games since 1984, the GDP should be 9.2 trillion yen within three years of the event (Macnaughtan, 2020). The justification for these enhanced financial impacts results from the infrastructure development before the Olympics.
The significant effects of holding the Tokyo events without spectators possibly included the loss of accommodation-related expenditure, food and beverage, and transport and ticket revenue. Moreover, the absence of spectators contributed to an approximated forfeiture of nearly 90 billion yen from ticket returns. Research shows that the GDP boost originated from holding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics without audiences shrunk to about 0.3 trillion yen (Kato, 2021). Therefore, hosting the event without audiences may have caused a forfeiture of approximately 1.4 trillion yen more than if the occasion had spectators in full form. Additionally, holding the Tokyo Olympic events later without audience impacted demands associated with the replacement sequence for durable customer goods. Further demand comprises security for officials and athletes, accommodation, and transportation. The spectators would have therefore played an essential role in the revenue production for Japan during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics events.
A significant amount of money had been utilized in planning for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics games. Research shows that an extra two billion dollars became incurred due to the event’s postponement. The Tokyo Games constitutes about 15000 voluntary athletes and other participants contending in 33 varying games distributed over above 40 locations. The event further involves the selling of nearly 7.8 million tickets. Before IOC suspended the 2020 Tokyo Olympic events IOC, about 4.5 million tickets had already been issued to spectators and participants (Mai, 2022). The projected cost of hosting the Tokyo Olympics involved about 15.4 billion dollars, including nearly 2.8 billion dollars for the unparalleled delay from 2020 (Borpujari, 2021). After that, the estimated cost of the postponement escalated significantly. The state had anticipated a tourism bonus before foreign visitors, and later domestic audiences were limited and tickets unsold.
Moreover, several Japanese corporations combined renumerated billions of dollars to finance the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The benefactors also pumped extra capital to prolong contracts after the Olympics became postponed (Holthus et al., 2020). The remuneration does not comprise corporations with Japanese corporations such as Panasonic, Bridgestone, and Toyota and other firms such as Samsung in South Korea. The corporations form a parallel platform for big affiliates with the IOC worth millions of dollars. The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics therefore, led to a loss of a significant amount of the sponsorship revenue.
Based on the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s local tourism and hospitality also suffered a major financial loss. According to research, the Olympics involve an extra commercialized occasion to enhance the market shares with the arrival of visitors globally to enjoy tourist spots and the sporting occasion (Yamamura, 2021). The unintended and unanticipated calendar alteration posed an unfavorable blow to Japan’s economy. In particular, hospitality and tourism corporations experienced a significant setback due to the forfeiture of a large portion of returns. Moreover, since the Tokyo Olympics posed major infections to individuals worldwide, various costly measures became imposed on hospitality corporations to contain the spread of infectious illnesses such as coronavirus. The WHO commands sports communities to develop safe and uniform conditions before resuming sports activities. Japan’s hospitality industry also suffered big blows due to low tourist arrivals after the postponement of the Olympics. Therefore, postponing promotes not only commercial but also logistics and legal issues as some contracts cannot be attained as predicted.
Political Impacts
The 2020 Tokyo Games led to major political turmoil. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) under Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide lost its voice due to the Tokyo Olympics delays. A considerable percentage of the Japanese delegates wanted to cancel the 2020 Tokyo Olympic events. In 2013, Japan proposed to hold the 2020 summer Olympics to illustrate that it had conquered the Fukushima calamity (Holthus et al., 2020). They had not anticipated that a pandemic would disrupt their plan and the Olympics. During the coronavirus outbreak, the Japanese electorates disregarded the Olympics, beckoning for their withdrawal. His approval ranking dropped uniformly after taking office to as low as 29% by July 2021 (Ray, 2022). As a result, Suga Yoshihide, the prime minister’s popularity, dropped.
Suga announced a state of emergency due to the Coronavirus outbreak on July 2020, the fourth time since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. To reduce the spread of the illness, Japan later opted to conduct the postponed Tokyo Olympics without spectators. Days before commencing the Olympics, the declarations increased global concerns about the security of above 11,000 participants embodying above 200 countries (Oblinger-Peters & Krenn, 2020). Reports illustrated infection at various Olympic avenues despite Japan’s conservative measures. The declarations further worsened Suga’s political stakes as he eyed the forthcoming parliamentary elections with low consent numbers.
However, interrelated defies of the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the Coronavirus outbreak raised insecurities about Suga’s political status as he headed to the forthcoming general elections. Research shows that hosting the Olympics often allows detested leaders to gain a support base (Yamamura, 2021). However, Suga’s popularity reduced amid debate about whether hosting the Olympics was appropriate. The LDP’s projections of a pivotal victory remained uncertain. The opposition took dexterity in most electoral districts, with the Constitutional Democratic Party merging with the Japanese Communist Party to reduce LDP’s popularity. The partnership of the two coalitions in the Tokyo congress elections assisted the CDP in enhancing its seat stake. The LDP lost control of the assembly to the opposition’s Tokyoites First led by Governor Koike. Suga’s predicament threatened to expand his opposition’s seat shares within the House of Representatives. The JCP and the CDP threatened to twist the forthcoming polls into a referendum based on Suga’s poor conduct regarding the Tokyo Olympics and the pandemic (Ray, 2020). He eventually resigned in September 2021 after losing hope for his re-election into office.
The Olympics also generated intense geopolitical competition between Japan and China. The 1908 Olympic Act underlines political impartialities and bans racial, religious, and political publicity at the Olympics. However, the Games have often constituted an essential political tool for estimating soft power, status rivalry, and prospects for protests. Research shows that IOC always has allegations of corruption scandals. However, a restrained testimony of political favoritism exists in host city choice. Olympics in Japan has a deep historical connection with politics. After Japan’s subsequent departure from the League of Nations in 1933, it pursued to enhance its global image by befitting as the first Asian to host the Olympics after bagging the 1940 Tokyo Games (Kato, 2021). However, Japan’s Second Sino-war overshadowed the Olympics together with any likelihood of reviving Japan’s status.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics signified Japan’s transformed global engagement as a liberal democracy, peaceful, and reform as a financial powerhouse. Its objectives had similarities to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Within the preceding three decades, the Japanese have faced several concerns such as global security threats, natural calamities, corruption cases, an elderly population, and a stagnant economy. Abe, the prime minister from 2012 to 2020, pursued to overcome these issues with emphatic foreign reform and bold economic reforms named Abenomics (Belli & Saracoglu, 2021). He viewed the Tokyo Games as a heritage plan and an emblem of Japan’s rebirth to enhance the Olympics.
The Tokyo Games faced several issues affecting Japan’s government. Organizers binned the initial stadium design and logo amid humiliating criticisms. The postponement of the Olympic events further worsened the political status of Japan. Some of the challenges during this period constituted global warming and gender inequality. Even though several issues, the Coronavirus pandemic established a genuine predicament. With the outburst of the Coronavirus in 2020, the termination of the Tokyo Olympics became an option (Borpujari, 2021). Abe termed this deplorable and personally composed a year suspension of the Olympics. Based on Japan’s modest political status, they have registered fewer Coronavirus cases than most nations.
However, interrelated defies of the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the Coronavirus outbreak raised insecurities about Suga’s political status as he headed to the forthcoming general elections. Suga’s approval ranking dropped uniformly after taking office. Research shows that hosting the Olympics often allows detested leaders to gain a support base (Yamamura, 2021). However, Suga’s popularity reduced amid debate about whether hosting the Olympics was appropriate. Canceling the 2020 Olympics would have promoted a significant financial liability and a diverse array of political concerns. Nonetheless, many Japanese citizens still believe the Olympics should have been terminated entirely. Suga’s predicament threatened to expand his opposition’s seat shares within the House of Representatives. He eventually resigned in September 2021 after losing hope of his re-election into office.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics failed to provide the optimism and excitement Prime Minister Abe anticipated. Instead, Japan acquired new perceptions of political powers defining a new age in East Asia. Based on the medal record, China has a lead, but Japanese sportspersons also played well. According to research, sporting expertise does not determine a country’s geopolitical path but can provide vision into a nation’s general self-confidence and mood (Yamamura & Tsutsui, 2020). Through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan occasioned significant efforts to market its elite face globally and attained substantial success. However, the extreme health conditions necessitated by the Coronavirus outbreak, such as the choice to minimize attendance and delay the event, overshadowed its significance.
Conclusion
Based on the research findings, the rescheduling of the Olympics Games in Japan affected the country significantly. For instance, the economic performance of the nation was disrupted following the inability of most sectors to gain form it. Similarly, the Japanese experienced reduced happiness due to the postponement. The Japanese intended to enhance economic and social growth through the Tokyo Olympics. As a result, the delay led to a financial loss of nearly 1.4 trillion Yen. The economic loss resulted from minimized spectators and prior preparation expenditures. Moreover, the ruling party, LDP, lost its voice, and Suga eventually resigned due to reduced popularity.
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