New York Times (April 28)
“Delaying the Tokyo Games by a year already poses enormous economic, political and logistical challenges, including whether Japan can hope to recoup its $10 billion investment.” Without a vaccine, however, a 2021 “timeline may be optimistic.”
Tags: Challenges, Delay, Economic, Investment, Japan, Logistical, Optimistic, Political, Recoup, Timeline, Tokyo, Vaccine
New York Times (April 19)
“Tokyo may have been lulled into complacency during the weeks when Japan contained the coronavirus while avoiding economically devastating lockdowns.” Aa the Government urges a 80% reduction in contact, there is too much normalcy. “It seems too many people are trying to squeeze into the 20 percent.”
Tags: Complacency, Contained, Coronavirus, Devastating, Government, Japan, Lockdowns, Normalcy, Tokyo
Forbes (February 28)
Japan’s Q4 6.3% GDP “plunge is a harsh wakeup call,” but the “talk of the Olympics being scrapped” is actually “an opportunity to refocus on what really matter. If Abe had used the last several years doing heavy lifting on reform rather than betting it all on Olympic glory, Japan would have greater endurance. It’s time Tokyo got to work actually creating a brighter future. Not just staging one.”
Reuters (February 18)
“The aversion to allowing work from home is unwelcome news for the government, which wants companies to let their employees telecommute during the Olympics to make travel easier for Games participants and spectators on Tokyo’s notoriously packed trains and roadways.”
Tags: Aversion, Companies, Employees, Government, Home, Olympics, Participants, Spectators, Telecommute, Tokyo, Work
CNN (December 31)
If Carlos Ghosn “couldn’t leave his Tokyo apartment to buy a carton of milk without someone knowing about it, how on earth did he just manage to flee the country?”
The Independent (August 7)
“Soaring temperatures in Japan have killed at least 57 people since late July… highlighting the health threat to athletes and fans that Olympics organisers must tackle before next year’s Tokyo games.”
Tags: Athletes, Fans, Health threat, Japan, July, Killed, Olympics, Soaring, Temperatures, Tokyo
Wall Street Journal (July 19)
“What began as an obscure, tech-supply trade fight between Tokyo and Seoul has now erupted into a boycott mushrooming across South Korea, a backlash targeting Japanese apparel, travel and electronics.” According to a recent poll, “most South Koreans are avoiding Japan-made products.”
Tags: Apparel, Backlash, Boycott, Obscure, South Korea, Tech-supply, Tokyo, Trade fight, Travel
The Guardian (June 12)
“The problem with earthquakes is that they undermine the very things you do to prevent them. And with Tokyo now seeing millions of tourists a year, and expecting millions more for the Rugby World Cup this year and the Olympics in 2020, the city is ripe for panic in the event of a disaster.”
Tags: Disaster, Earthquakes, Olympics, Panic, Prevent, Problem, Rugby World Cup, Tokyo, Tourists, Undermine
The Economist (March 19)
The Economist Intelligence Unit just announced the most expensive cities in the world. Due to inflation, Tokyo doesn’t rank in the top 10. “Singapore marks its sixth straight year at the top of the rankings, and is joined there by Hong Kong and Paris.” Osaka was the only Japanese city to make the top 10 in “the survey, which compares prices across 160 products and services.”
Financial Times (February 12)
“One of the challenges faced by Tokyo as it prepares for the Olympics is living up to the last time it hosted the games, in 1964. The challenge is not practical (the games will in all likelihood run like clockwork) but thematic…. Today’s construction boom in central Tokyo… is being pitched as the renaissance of a city that has been straining for 30 years to pull off a second comeback.”
Tags: 1964, Challenges, Clockwork, Comeback, Construction boom, Olympics, Renaissance, Tokyo
