Japan Enters ‘Vivere Pericoloso’ With Persistent Olympics
Japan is aiming to showcase the latest artificial intelligence-based technology when it stages the Tokyo 2020 Games. The display of sophistication must go on despite the threatening COVID-19 pandemic.
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·5 minutes read
KYODO NEWS VIA AP
Poland\'s team arrive for Tokyo 2020 Olympics at Narita international airport in Narita, east of Tokyo, Sunday, July 18, 2021.
TOKYO, KOMPAS — The beaming smile of sprinter Yoshinori Sakai, 19, next to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics cauldron was like magic that galvanized applause and cheers from the crowd. The Olympic flame heralded Japan\'s emergence as a world giant, industrial-based economic power.
The nation is now seeking to repeat the awakening moment through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which runs from July 23 to Aug. 8 — though in a more subdued atmosphere because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tokyo 1964 became the turning point for Japan\'s glory from the slump suffered in World War II. The country turned the ambition for world conquest through military superiority into intellectual victory through technological innovations.
One of the legacies of the 1964 Olympics that became an icon of Japan\'s sophisticated industry is the Shinkansen. The super-speed train, which was launched at the Tokyo 1964 opening, immediately drew the world\'s admiration.
The Tokyo 1964 snowball effect has since changed the image of Japan into a modern, open, friendly and safe country. In addition, it provoked national pride among its citizens as the first Asian country to hold the world’s biggest multisporting showcase.
The Land of the Rising Sun now wants to use the 1964 Olympic achievement as a reviving spirit to step into another new era with state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology and the internet of things.
AP PHOTO/CHARLIE RIEDEL
Brandie Wilkerson, left, and Heather Bansley, from Canada, take a break during women\'s beach volleyball practice at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 19, 2021, in Tokyo.
It is eager to showcase its technological innovations at Tokyo 2020, such as robot guides that can show directions or transportation routes and even translate languages. However, the role of these robots has been somewhat diminished as it had been decided that the Olympics will take place without spectators. The robots will operate at the athletes\' villages and media center.
Automated unmanned vehicles are launched to transport athletes to their arenas. Japan originally planned to introduce the Maglev (magnetic levitation) train as the successor to the Shinkanzen super-speed train. However, its unveiling may be called off as the COVID-19 pandemic has put a number of development projects on hold.
Projected to operate by 2027, the Maglev may not be available during the Tokyo Olympics. But this could have served as a timely opportunity for Japan to gain the upper-hand in the technological competition in the region, given the news that similar technology developed by China is expected to operate during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Moving leverage
Japan\'s long-term investment for new technological sophistication decades to come seems to be the pressing factor for the Tokyo Olympics to still go ahead.
Other factors are the commercial interests of the Olympic sponsors, as well as the role of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in pushing for the continuation of the Tokyo Olympics amid the pandemic. In fact, Japan is in the fourth state of emergency — until Aug. 22 — due to another spike in COVID-19 cases.
Japan\'s long-term investment for new technological sophistication decades to come seems to be the pressing factor for the Tokyo Olympics to still go ahead.
Without spectators, ticket revenue is lost. However, income from television broadcasting rights can still flow in. The sale of Olympic broadcasting rights is an important asset of the IOC, which, according to The New York Times, can potentially reach Rp 57.8797 trillion (US$4 billion)
The financial value is about 73 percent of IOC revenues, with fees from main sponsors under long-term contracts accounting for another 18 percent.
Kompas
Luis Alvarez, from Mexico, shoots during practice for the 2020 Summer Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field, Sunday, July 18, 2021, in Tokyo.
Dodging second no-show
With Tokyo 2020 set to kick off after a year’s delay due to the pandemic, Japan is now putting behind the fear of being remembered as the country to have had an Olympics no-show twice, following the cancellation of the 1940 edition because of World War II.
Holding the Olympics amid the pandemic is akin to getting the nation into a vivere pericoloso period, or living precariously in pandemic disaster, because the Olympics are feared to trigger an explosion of COVID-19 cases.
The arrival of about 11,000 athletes and officials from across the globe has become public concern. In fact, polls by a number of media outlets in Japan show high opposition to the Olympics for fear of aggravating the situation.
Holding the Olympics is like a double-edged sword. If the quadrennial sporting showcase proves a success, Japan will gain a very positive image in the eyes of the world.
International sports events provide a means of promoting the image of the hosting nation, as the most recent case of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Mohamad Dian Revindo, head of the Center for Business Climate and Global Value Chain Studies and the Institute for Economic and Community Research (LPEM) at the University of Indonesia, said on Wednesday (14/7) that Russia was aiming for that positive image when becoming the 2018 World Cup host.
Through the Olympics, Japan will show the world it’s a nation that is able to organize a giant event during a pandemic and is able to implement high standards of health protocols.
He said the Russian government was mainly exuberant about the world’s view of the country at the expense of digging deep into its economic resources.
LPEM UI\'s study on the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, reported that more than 70 percent of foreign participants and spectators positively shifted their views about Indonesia. More than 80 percent were said to want to return to Indonesia and 90 percent to recommend to friends and relatives that Indonesia was a deservedly visited tourist destination.
“Japan sees that, too. Through the Olympics, Japan will show the world it’s a nation that is able to organize a giant event during a pandemic and is able to implement high standards of health protocols," Dian said.
However, in the case of an explosion of COVID-19 cases as feared, the Olympics organization could tarnish Japan\'s image and possibly bring it greater economic adversity. That is why the Tokyo 2020 organizers had imposed strict health protocols long before the arrival of athletes, officials and media to Tokyo. (DIM/MKN/BEN/ANG)
