One year after the Olympics, Tokyo Mayor Yuriko Koike is still trying to create a good mood.
Photo: imago/Rodrigo Reyes Marin
Had the organizers had a choice, the celebrations of those days would have been different. They started on July 23rd. Exactly one year after the opening ceremony, Tokyo Mayor Yuriko Koike greeted again in an Olympic stadium that was not filled. The Japanese capital is once again going through a corona wave, so that hardly a third of the seats could be occupied. The summer games in Tokyo are not marked by luck even a year later.
With various festivities, which are currently reminiscent of the world’s largest sporting event a year ago, Yuriko Koike is trying to put the major event in her city in a positive light: “The successful implementation of the games, despite unprecedented challenges, has an invaluable legacy. « A lot of people are wondering: What legacy is that exactly? After all, people in Japan continue to argue about whether »Tokyo 2020« was really worth the effort. The Olympic Games in their host country have probably never been as unpopular as those in Tokyo – in the midst of the pandemic, increased costs and various scandals, around 80 percent of people were against the games taking place as scheduled, according to several surveys.
However, the team consisting of the local organizing committee and the IOC went through with its plans – after a one-year postponement due to the pandemic – against considerable public resistance. In the summer of 2021, Tokyo experienced an Olympics with empty ranks and no visitors from abroad. Due to the ban on international tourists, various cultural exchange projects also fell through. The one-year postponement also made the games even more expensive than they already were. But it is not only this that makes the memories of »Tokyo 2020« negative in many minds. These days, the current news situation also creates a bad picture. Shortly after the anniversary of the opening ceremony, information reached the press that the public prosecutor’s office had searched the house of a member of the organizing committee. The suspicion is corruption.
Haruyuki Takahashi, who acted as a board member of the organizing committee, appears to have received around US$2 million, possibly as a bribe, to broker a sponsorship deal with men’s outfitter Aoki. There was also a search at the company Dentsu, the largest PR agency in Japan, which also worked closely with the Tokyo Olympic organizers. Takahashi worked at Dentsu before becoming head of a consulting firm through which he also worked for Aoki.
More details have come to light over the past few days. Public broadcaster NHK reports that Takahashi, who denies wrongdoing, suggested Aoki to the organizing committee as a suitable sponsor. Olympic sponsorship deals are popular because companies can advertise exclusively with the Olympic rings during the games, which is usually associated with increased revenues. Takahashi claims he only proposed to Aoki after other competitors withdrew their interest.
However, on Monday, NHK reported that Aoki executives had submitted a list of demands to Takahashi. So they wanted an accelerated procedure for the sponsorship deal. Such a demand makes the payments to Takahashi – initially estimated at $330,000 but currently thought to be around six times that amount – look like a bribe. It would not be the first scandal of this kind that »Tokyo 2020« would have to grapple with.
In addition to several outrages about sexism and discrimination on the part of high officials, financial inconsistencies quickly became part of the Olympic rhythm in Tokyo. French prosecutors began investigating Tsunekazu Takeda in 2016. The former head of the Tokyo bid committee, who was also head of the Japanese NOK and a member of the IOC, was suspected of corruption around payments before the games were awarded. Takeda also denied wrongdoing, but announced his retirement from office in 2019.
Should the suspicions surrounding Haruyuki Takahashi be confirmed, this would not only be a problem for the 78-year-old himself, but also for the Olympic movement in Japan beyond the Tokyo Games. Sapporo is currently applying for the right to host the 2030 Winter Games. After the controversial Tokyo Games, the applicants from the northern Japanese metropolis decided not to ask the population in advance whether they wanted to host it.
Should Sapporo, who are expected to have good chances, actually be awarded the contract, the public prosecutor’s office should not only take a close look at the circumstances of the award. Large parts of the public, who would once again be excluded from decision-making processes, would probably have more thoughts of unfair behavior at the Olympics.
