Saturday, 28 June 2008

Tokyo 2016 Olympic Candidate City

Something that's been a little bit of a joke with me for the past few months has been all the publicity in Tokyo about it being a "Candidate City" for the 2016 Olympics.

Train stations are full of flags and signs promoting the fact that Tokyo is a "Candidate" and press conferences and PR sessions are held on a very regular basis. If you didn't know otherwise you'd think Tokyo is actually hosting the Olympics. The thing is they're not. They're just a "Candidate".

When I was living in Australia back in the 90s I had no idea Sydney was a Candidate. There was no promotion for that at all really. Of course when we actually won the right to hold the 2000 games in Sydney, the media pretty much went crazy but for simply applying... I don't remember any promotion of that fact at all really.

Doing a web search I found a small site for Chicago celebrating their candidacy. But it's literally one page.

The Tokyo 2016 Website on the other hand is massive! It offers photos, up to date news on Tokyo's progress, maps of their venues (proposed venues anyway) and even a copy of their application!

What's more, the site is in four different languages! Japanese, English, Spanish and French! When a Japanese anything offers a real English version of itself, that really raises eyebrows. But when it offers Spanish and French as well... I'm very impressed.

If I had never been to Tokyo and had just been to this site I would definitely think it's a lot more international than previously thought. But since I live in Tokyo, I do have to wonder if Tokyo does win the hosting rights if there'll be an attempt to internationalise Tokyo more.

As it is today, there are three things keeping Tokyo back from being International:

One is the simply practicality of living in the city. Most signs are still in Japanese kanji, and when English is used, only half of the sign seems to have been translated. Take a walk around Shinjuku or Ikebukuro station (two major stations) and you'll see what I mean.
Add to this the fact that the majority of non-Japanese residents in Japan are actually Chinese or Korean, one really begins to understand how incompetent city planers and businesses are here.

The second is the law and government officials attitudes towards "non-Japanese". Currently any policeman can stop you in the street and ask for your passport simply because you may be up to no good or a possible illegal immigrant. Businesses of any kind can refuse you service simply on the basis of your race and despite Japan being a part of the UN, all of this racist and offensive laws are completely legal in Japan and aren't likely to change.

The third is simply public attitude. Most Japanese people don't want the Olympics held in Tokyo. There is massive fear of Foreign Crime that's supported simply by xenophobia. There's also blind racist hatred which I can confidently say most non-Japanese (and Japanese of non-Japanese appearance) friends of mine have faced.

This third fact actually makes me wonder if all of this massive PR for the 2016 Olympics isn't so much to advertise it to other countries but to sell the idea to Japanese people within Japan in an attempt to change their attitudes.

If this is the case the PR people will need all the help they can get. Everyone I've asked about the Olympics who lives in Tokyo thinks the whole concept is just impossible for one basic reason: Tokyo is too small.

While the Tokyo 2016 Website promotes the fact that the trains run on time, it fails to mention that the trains are almost always dangerously overloaded with passengers. There's just no way the current public transport system would work with the massive amount of officials and tourists the Olympics would attract.

Tokyo would need to revamp ALL the trains to be at least dual storied (like Sydney trains) and make them wider, but due to space restrictions there's actually no way they can do that with the current train lines.

Come the Olympics (if Tokyo gets them), Tokyo's going to be screwed.

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Labels: japan