Tokyo Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo offer a fitting and timely point of departure to consider the religion-based exclusion of women and, by extension, to peer into the nation-culture-religion-gender nexus in Japan. The Japan Sumo Association, a quasi-governmental corporation, champions itself as the custodian of a divine affair cultivated by male deities and mortal men, and exclusive of women. The Sumo Association bans women and girls from entering or even touching the wrestling ring, lest they violate sumo tradition and taint their so-called sacred battlefield. Critics of sumo’s female taboo denounce the Association’s rule as anachronistic and sexist as well as illegal. The opposition focuses attention on the need for change, and justifiably so, but there exists an equally pressing need to think about why the ban prevails even with strong opposition. Olympic presentations of the male sumo wrestler open our eyes as to one such abetting force: persuasive and politically expedient visions of sumo wrestling as an ancient, sacred, and exclusively male endeavor.

Many Japanese workers in lower-paying positions were drawn to the growing trucking sector in the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by contingency and the thrill of risk and reward, in contrast to the stasis of lifetime employment guarantees emerging in other sectors of the economy. Th e gamifi ed reward structure in trucking, however, led to a spike in traffi c accidents and a backlash against "kamikaze trucks." Only after regulations and enforcement limited the most dangerous kinds of incentives did meaningful forms of play emerge at work from the bottom up, rather than the stultifi ed forms imposed by businesses from the top down.

Mathieu Capel
ÉVASION DU JAPON
CINÉMA JAPONAIS DES ANNÉES 1960
La décennie 1960 est une période d’intenses bouleversements dans l’histoire du cinéma japonais. L’heure est à la libération sexuelle, à la contestation politique, aux mouvements citoyens contre la pollution industrielle : climat libertaire propice aux irrévérences, dont le monde cinématographique se fait comptable à travers une série de scandales. Mais l’accès du pays à la prospérité au tournant des années 1960, célébrée en grande pompe par les Jeux Olympiques de Tokyo de 1964, semble dissiper cette angoisse, entraînant les cinéastes de la nouvelle génération vers d’autres modèles théoriques et esthétiques, aptes à rendre compte de la nouvelle société de consommation et de communication de masse. C’est cette grande mutation qu’Évasion du Japon propose d’explorer.

Journalistic online article about the dual national "haafu" in Japan. There is a completely unenforced law that they have to choose one nationality at age 22. With Naomi Osaka turning 22, a policy better left ambiguous might be smoked out to the detriment of biculturals with one Japanese parent.

The Japanese urban alleyway, which was once part of people’s personal spatial sphere and everyday life, has been transformed by diverse and competing interests. Marginalised through the emergence of new forms of housing and public spaces, re-appropriated by different fields and re-invented by the contemporary urban design discourse, the social meaning attached to the roji is being re-interpreted by individuals, subcultures and new social movements. The book will introduce and discuss examples of urban practices that take place within the dynamic urban landscape of contemporary Tokyo to portray the life cycle of an urban form being re-discovered, commodified and lost as physical space

From the seventeenth until the nineteenth centuries, the “Great Buddha Hall” (Daibutsuden 大仏殿) of Hōkōji 方広寺temple was one of the top attractions of a visit to the capital. The site has now almost disappeared, but its varied visual footprint testifies to the agency of its audiences, both local and foreign. The analysis of these visual sources yields information about the embodied experience of visiting the site and the strategies of dealing with its loss.

These issues are relevant for present-day landscape conservation policies in the context of the availability of digital technology. If developed with attention to the specificity of historical sources, immersive digital apps have the potential to insert a new layer of interaction at the intersection between memory and architecture, thereby enabling users to re-engage with historical sites.

This paper offers a critical re-evaluation of what is arguably the clearest representation of a Japanese consumer electronic and media corporation in architectural form: the Ginza Sony Building. The paper argues that architect Yoshinobu Ashihara’s 1966 modern master- piece can be seen as a multilayered assemblage through which a number of distinct modernist traditions have evolved. This aspect of the building, we argue, is clearer in the present, ironically, after it has been demolished; in its absence. The building’s status as a modernist icon and, consequently, fame, developed gradually since it was opened. But a series of recent events and the resulting dynamic encouraged us to revisit the building to construct a wider, more satisfying understanding of its value. The renewed relevance of the Sony Build- ing, we know in hindsight, was determined when Tokyo was announced as a host of the 2020 Olympics. That announcement in September 2013 was a catalyst for a chain of events that revealed four distinct ‘evolutions’ in which the iconic building plays a distinct role. We discuss the change over time of: (1.) the emergence and presence of Sony in Ginza; (2.) the employment of modern architectural traditions and ideas; (3.) the linkage between Sony’s flagship products and the building; and (4.) the representations of Sony as an architectural form and how it evolved from building to park and the expected building-park. The paper, then, offers a re-reading of the modernist building as a non-discrete urban assemblage at the intersection of new technologies in consumer electronics, novel architectural ideas, a Post-War nascent consumer society, and, an urban district that transformed because of the 1964 Olympic Games and is currently re-transforming through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The paper recognizes the Sony Building as a relevant object of study and repositions it in the current context. It accounts for the main evolutionary traditions and shows how the building encourages their composition.

The Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), like no other pandemic has taken the world by storm, affecting all and any spheres of life. This effect has also impacted global sporting events such as the 2020 Summer Olympics that were scheduled for the 24th of July 2020 to the 9th of July 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Historically, the Summer Olympics have been cancelled 3 times due to war but the postponement that occurred in 2020 is unprecedented. The socioeconomic implications are still yet to be fully explored and realised. The purpose of this research is to therefore examine the impact of COVID-19 on the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. The study will adopt a systematic literature review of material on the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to sporting events and statistical inferences will be conducted based on publicly accessible secondary data sources. Considering that the pandemic is still an ongoing phenomenon the findings and analysis cannot be conclusive, a snapshot based on current data and scientific predictions will be provided on what COVID-19 meant to global sporting events. A broad analysis of the pandemic's impact on sport will be provided despite the focus being on the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Last, this study serves as a template for further research on COVID-19's impact on sporting events in general, preferably studies conducted post the pandemic for reflection purposes based on more conclusive data.

The modern Olympic Games have evolved from events fostering international peace and goodwill to showcases of athleticism and commercialism. More recently sustainability became a pillar of the Game site selection process. This paper focuses on two Olympic Games: Rio 2016 (completed) and Tokyo 2020 (upcoming). The goals of Sustainability Plans and pre-game reports for the two Olympic sites are analyzed using weighted summation method of Multi-attribute Value theory and the framework of environmental, economic and social-cultural sustainability, with emphasis on environmental sustainability. Post-game analysis and legacy stories are reviewed for Rio 2016. Application of legacy stories to future Olympics sites is examined. Last, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, in terms of actual and anticipated success in sustainability initiatives, are compared for the impact these two Games may have on future Olympic Game sites.Keywords: Sustainability, environmental sustainability, Olympic Games, Rio 2016, ...

This paper offers a critical re-evaluation of what is arguably the clearest representation of a Japanese consumer electronic and media corporation in architectural form: the Ginza Sony Building. The paper argues that architect Yoshinobu Ashihara’s 1966 modern master- piece can be seen as a multilayered assemblage through which a number of distinct modernist traditions have evolved. This aspect of the building, we argue, is clearer in the present, ironically, after it has been demolished; in its absence. The building’s status as a modernist icon and, consequently, fame, developed gradually since it was opened. But a series of recent events and the resulting dynamic encouraged us to revisit the building to construct a wider, more satisfying understanding of its value. The renewed relevance of the Sony Build- ing, we know in hindsight, was determined when Tokyo was announced as a host of the 2020 Olympics. That announcement in September 2013 was a catalyst for a chain of events that revealed four distinct ‘evolutions’ in which the iconic building plays a distinct role. We discuss the change over time of: (1.) the emergence and presence of Sony in Ginza; (2.) the employment of modern architectural traditions and ideas; (3.) the linkage between Sony’s flagship products and the building; and (4.) the representations of Sony as an architectural form and how it evolved from building to park and the expected building-park. The paper, then, offers a re-reading of the modernist building as a non-discrete urban assemblage at the intersection of new technologies in consumer electronics, novel architectural ideas, a Post-War nascent consumer society, and, an urban district that transformed because of the 1964 Olympic Games and is currently re-transforming through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The paper recognizes the Sony Building as a relevant object of study and repositions it in the current context. It accounts for the main evolutionary traditions and shows how the building encourages their composition.

Rarely has the value of modern architecture and heritage in the Japanese city been more trenchantly depicted than in Kon Ishikawa's classic "Tokyo Olympiad" of 1965. The monumental film that chronicles the 1964 Tokyo Olympic begins with a staggering scene of destruction: The image of a rising sun, representing the Japan that has similarly risen out of the ruins of World War II, seamlessly blends into a wrecking ball, vociferously knocking down complete ferro-concrete building facades. After these violent opening scenes and now framed by an ethereal, almost angelic score, the camera gracefully pans along the astounding architectural jewels that were created for the 1964 Tokyo Olympiad-the National Stadium by Katayama Mitsuo, the Komazawa Stadium by Murata Masachika, the Komazawa Gymnasium by Ashihara Yoshinobu, and the Yoyogi Gymnasiums by Tange Kenzo-and that catapulted modernist Japanese architecture into the global limelight almost overnight. This sequence of a dignified, quiet monumentality, devoid of people, harshly ends with a crosscut to a bustling, chaotic Tokyo street, underscored by a nervous score. On the most abstract level, the wrecking ball functions as a powerful symbol, "denoting the violence implicit in [Japan's overall] modernizing process" (Russell 2002: 218). On another level, these scenes seem to suggest that the old city naturally should give way for the new to emerge. Only the creative destruction of the outdated buildings and neighborhoods allows for the Olympic city to materialize. On yet another concrete level these scenes graphically depict the unsentimental and utilitarian treatment of building structures throughout the country's modern history. Like in few other places in the world, perfectly maintained ferro-concrete office buildings that couldn't be much older than 20 to 30 years at the time the film was made are torn down just because changed regulations, new building technologies, or a tense real estate market demanded bigger, more profitable structures. And indeed, few modern building structures last longer than 50 years in Japan. Wrecking balls are no longer used today, but the incessant replacement of outdated building structures continues to this day.

2011 tarihli animasyon filmi Tepedeki Ev’in (From Up on Poppy Hill) senaryosunu Hayao Miyazaki yazmış ve oğlu Gorō Miyazaki de yönetmenliğini yapmıştır. Film 1963 yılında, Japonya’nın liman kenti Yokohama’da geçmektedir. Filmin tarihi özellikle Tokyo Olimpiyatları’ndan bir yıl öncesi olarak seçilmiştir. Yönetmen Gorō Miyazaki bu dönemi savaş sonrası toparlanma dönemiyle sonraki yıllarda yaşanan hızlı ekonomik büyüme dönemi arasında bir boşluk olarak tanımlamaktadır. Hatta “kana bulanmış dönemle paralı dönem arasındaki sakin dönem” şeklinde özetlemeyi tercih etmektedir.[1] Dolayısıyla 60’lı yıllar, II. Dünya Savaşı yenilgisinin ardından modern Japonya’nın yeniden inşası ve 1964 Olimpiyat oyunlarına ev sahipliği üzerinden Japonya’nın kendini kanıtlama çabası anlamına gelmektedir. Öte yandan, yönetmenin de ifade ettiği gibi bir geçiş dönemi olarak da ele alınabilir. Savaştan yaklaşık yirmi yıl sonra barışın devam ettiği ama savaş hatırasının taze olduğu, savaşın izlerinin hem binalarda hem de insanlarda kaldığı bir dönem.

Free download at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XwqfpkM5Iz5aXP4UAedV/full?target=10.1080/18692729.2019.1578848 In Ruth Ozeki’s words, 3.11/Fukushima represents a “rift in time”, which not only split an imagined temporal continuum into before and after, but makes the before appear in a different light. In the present article, Yū Miri’s JR Ueno-eki kōenguchi is read as a literary response to, and expression of, this perceptual shift. Yū’s focus on an exploited migrant worker from rural Fukushima who spends his last years as a homeless in the capital chimes in with the post-3.11 discourse about the sub- ordinate position of Northern Japan within the Japanese nation-state. The novel can thus be interpreted as a palimpsestic corrective; a critical rewriting of Japan’s post-war history from the viewpoint of those whose existence has been marginalized, if not completely erased from collective memory. To illustrate this point, the analysis focuses on Yū’s deconstruction of the myth surrounding the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (an implicit criticism of the upcoming post-nuclear 2020 Olympics), as well as her provocative juxtaposition of a homeless and the Japanese imperial family. It is argued that by problematizing historical memory and forgetting, discursive visibility and invisibility, Yū not only intertwines various narrative threads, but also manages to re-connect the before and after the disaster in a new, critical way.

This article discusses the role of drawings in interdisciplinary visual research, especially the contribution of line drawings to investigative fieldwork. Citing precedents in Tokyo, the incorporation of sociological and ethnographic methods for architectural research is not new in Japan. RE/MAP 2.0, an exploratory workshop that brought participants from architecture and sociology together, uncovered the hidden realities of sub-metropolitan neighbourhoods in Central Tokyo affected by widespread urban restructuring in the lead up to Tokyo 2020. ‘Careful listening’ complemented the use of visual materials – in particular, researcher-based drawings – for fieldwork documentation. Line drawings produced by the workshop participants, though varied in style and form, contain a critical dimension. They graphically convey, through three case studies, the manipulated legibility of Roppongi, asynchronous spatial inhabitations and movements of street culture groups around Miyashita Park, and the intangible social networks fostered by intermediate wholesalers in Tsukiji for economic survival. Locating this collaboration in the discourse of visual studies practice reinforces the importance of not only interdisciplinary exchanges but also for doing research inclusively.