Asia challenges for NZ sports fans
Major sporting events are prized for their ability to create iconic moments that resonate beyond the sporting arena.
Who can forget Nelson Mandela presenting the William Webb Ellis trophy to his home nation or Cathy Freeman lighting the Sydney 2000 Olympic flame?
The staging of a major sporting event has long been a platform to update a county’s global image and deepen connections, tourism and business opportunities.
The next country in the spotlight is Japan, the host nation of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It’s clear organisers are looking to present a welcoming image to the world, but at the same time use the events as a showcase of innovative and sustainable Japanese technology.
Organisers have announced the 2020 Olympic Games will be powered by 100 per cent sustainable energy, and medals will be manufactured from recycled mobile phones. Driverless taxis and robot translators will also feature.
From a New Zealand perspective, the exploits of our All Blacks, Olympians and Paralympians in Japan will be at the heart of many conversations, and this increased profile will give us a unique opportunity to help Kiwis grow their knowledge and deepen their connections with Japan.
Rugby, in particular, is also an important part of the Kiwi brand in Japan. Research conducted by the New Zealand Story shows New Zealand is known in Japan for the All Blacks and farming.
Next year thousands of New Zealand fans and even the parliamentary rugby team will go to Japan. Even more New Zealanders will visit in 2020 for the Olympics.
New Zealanders will want to be good guests, so being aware of issues around displaying tattoos, for example, is useful.
World Rugby has advised both players and supporters to cover up while in Japan, where tattoos are traditionally associated with yakuza gangs.
Some public bathhouses, gyms, and pools choose to ban tattoos to avoid other patrons being intimidated. But Japanese friends tell me that tattooed visitors shouldn’t get too anxious about this. The fact is, it’s only an issue in certain settings.
New Zealand has a historically strong relationship with Japan, due in part to the focus on Japanese language learning in schools in the 1980s and 1990s, and initiatives such as the working holiday scheme and the JET programme.
It remains one of our top trading partners but there’s a sense among some that this relationship is too often taken for granted.
There are strong, and growing, tourism and business connections between New Zealand and Japan. More than 100,000 Japanese visited New Zealand in 2016.
And after the Canterbury earthquake and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, New Zealand and Japan came to each other’s assistance to provide financial and operational support.
The Asia New Zealand Foundation’s annual Perceptions of Asia tracking surveys consistently show Kiwis have warm feelings towards Japan and we expect these major sporting events to continue that trend.
However, this sits within a wider context of a lack of confidence about Asia among young New Zealanders in particular. New Zealand has seen a large decrease in the number of students learning Japanese, as part of a wider trend away from language learning.
The Japanese events are just the start of an increasing trend for major events in the Asian region.
The 2018 Asian Games, which just concluded in Jakarta, was the second-largest sporting event outside of the Olympic Games, and more than 45 nations took part. This year Korea hosted the Winter Olympics, and the Games will return to the region in 2022, hosted in and around Beijing.
The foundation will be rolling out a series of activities in partnership with key New Zealand sporting organisations, from education material for schoolchildren to new sportsfocussed programmes.
Major sporting events on our doorstep will not only expose Kiwis to the region but will also deepen our connections with Asia.
The challenge for the New Zealand business sector is to start planning to ensure you are ready to leverage this.
Sport may be a national pastime, but the reality is, it is also big business.