With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics happening in less than 500 days, I wanted to give you a brief history of the past Olympics in Japan!
Japan has a unique history with the Olympics due to the first Winter and Summer Olympics being cancelled. There have been technically 2 Winter Olympics – in 1972 at Hokkaidō and in 1998 in Nagano and 1 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
If you look at the history of the Olympics there is a gap from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany to the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Within this 12 year gap Japan was supposed to have the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan (originally the Winter and Summer Olympics were on the same year). This never happened due to WWII, and it would be 24 years until Japan would have their turn to host the Olympics.
a poster for the 1940 Summer and Winter Olympics
In 1968, The Summer Olympics were hosted in Tokyo, Japan. This was a huge opportunity for Japan to present itself on the global stage and display how they had rebuilt themselves as a economically strong and peaceful nation. This was not just the Olympics to Japan, but a sense of pride and passion for the Japanese people to display the rebirth of their country, be the first country in Asia to host the Olympics, and play their part in contributing to the current international peace. This can be displayed in the significance behind each part of the Olympics. For example, a man named Yoshinori Sakai would be the one to hold the final torch. He was chosen to be the torch-holder because he was born on August 6th, 1945- the day the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima. This was in honor of the victims and a sign of world peace.
Yoshinori Sakai holding the Olympic Torch and the emblem for Tokyo 1964 Summer Olympics
The 1964 Olympics caused several infrastructure projects to be revealed and open to the public including the still renown Shinkansen bullet train. The opening ceremony of the bullet train happened 9 days before the Olympics with a route from Osaka to Tokyo. This train is a world wonder with ability to go 200 mph. Another new innovation was the first global satellite feed TV coverage. These type of groundbreaking inventions were a key part for the 1964 Olympics to make the lasting impression upon the world.
a photo of a Shinkansen Bullet Train today
Now, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics coming soon there is a lot of excitement circulating from the torch reveal to an all-time low budget in recent years. With the Tokyo Olympics at 7.7 billion dollars it is relatively lower in comparison to previous Olympics like Beijing ($40 billion), London ($14 billion), and Rio de Janeiro (14.4 billion). There will also be new sports including surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and national favorites like karate and baseball/softball. Lastly, there will be many new showings of advanced technology such as support robots.
the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch
new Game Robots
When 2020 rolls around and your summer begins to come to an end, stay tuned for what organizers say will be “the most innovative ever organized, and will rest on three fundamental principles to transform the world (once again): striving for you personal best; accepting one another; and passing on a legacy for the future.”
https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/09/05/the-1964-tokyo-olympics-a-turning-point-for-japan/https://www.olympic.org/tokyo-1964
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poster_Olympische_Sommerspiele_Tokio_1940.jpg
The Winter Olympics that never happened.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Summer_Olympics
https://www.iaaf.org/news/iaaf-news/death-yoshinori-sakai-1964-olympic-games
https://www.olympic.org/tokyo-2020