Clock ticks on Tokyo Olympics
Ticket demand high amid concerns over traffic congestion, weather
TOKYO — The countdown for the Tokyo Olympics has hit365days.
To mark the year-to-go mark, the gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals are to be unveiled Wednesday as part of daylong ceremonies around the Japanese capital.
Tokyo’s 1964 Olympics showcased bullet trains, futuristic designs and a new expressway, underlining Japan’s recovery following World War II. Those games were the first seen worldwide by early satellites, sending the Olympics into a new era.
Japan’s capital has less to prove this time when the games open July 24, 2020. Many of the venues are completed, Tokyo has abundant infrastructure and Japan is a byword for know-how. There are, however, other matters: Expected heat (though this summer has been wet and mild), traffic and subway congestion, costs, earthquake preparedness and ticket scarcity.
Ticket demand by Japan residents alone is reported to be at least 10 times the supply. Abroad, prices are sure to soar on secondary ticket markets.
Organizers have shattered records for local sponsorship revenue, which has passed $3 billion — about three times more than any previous Olympics.
The main driver has been Japan’s giant advertising and marketing company Dentsu Inc., the exclusive marketing agency for Tokyo.
“Thefactthatthetalkis so much about not being able to get tickets,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said, “is a symbol, a representation of the enthusiasm and expectations that a lot of people have toward the games.”
‘Sport is the subtext’
Tokyo doesn’t need the Olympics to build infrastructure. It has some of the world’s best. Pressed to justify spending billions on the games, Koike described the Olympics and Paralympics as an “accelerator” to get more things done, even if evidence overwhelmingly shows that working on Olympic deadlines drives up costs.
Sports economist Robert Baade, who teaches at Lake Forest College outside Chicago and has researched the Olympics, says the games are “about marketing and branding. The most important part from a commercial standpoint is the opening and closing ceremony. Sport is the subtext.”
Tokyo is building eight venues. The other 35 are defined as “temporary” or older buildings being reused, which organizers say has saved billions. But even existing venues need