Links to book
Paperback & Hardcover
Open Access E-Book
Author Interviews
Watch our author interviews on the DIJ YouTube channel
Authors
Complete List of Authors (PDF, 294 KB)
In the media
Barbara Holthus in German radio hr2 on Olympics during the pandemic (7/2021)
Barbara Holthus on PRI’s radio programme The World on the lack of safety precautions (6/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Swiss radio SRF on Olympic skepticism in Japan (6/2021)
Barbara Holthus on Olympic volunteers and safety in CBC’s News Morning Show (6/2021)
Barbara Holthus on Olympic volunteers in Australian news programme Ticker News (6/2021)
Barbara Holthus on Olympic volunteers and Covid testing in CNN’s news show The Lead (6/2021)
Torsten Weber interviewed about Olympic mood in Japan by German newspaper Merkur (5/2021)
Torsten Weber interviewed about Olympic mood in Japan by German newspaper tz (5/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Zeit Online on Olympic volunteers (5/2021)
Barbara Holthus in German TV ZDF Sport-Reportage on Olympic volunteers and Covid risk (5/2021)
Barbara Holthus in German radio ARD on volunteers and Covid protection (4/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Japanese daily Mainichi Shinbun on Olympic volunteers (4/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Japanese TV show ‚Viking More‘ on risks for Olympic volunteers (4/2021)
Barbara Holthus in CNN report on 100 days until the Tokyo Olympics (4/2021)
Barbara Holthus in CNN article on Olympic torch relay (3/2021)
Barbara Holthus on Olympic volunteers in New York Times article (3/2021)
Barbara Holthus in AP News article on Olympic sexist scandal (3/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Deutsche Welle on start of the Olympic torch relay (3/2021)
Barbara Holthus in Austrian national TV ORF ‚Sport am Sonntag‘ on state of preparations (3/2021)
Barbara Holthus in AP News article on scandal over sexist comments (3/2021)
Sonja Ganseforth on anti-Olympic protests in Japan in Belgian daily De Standaard (2/2021)
Torsten Weber on Tokyo 1940 and nationalism in Japan in Zeit online (2/2021)
Sonja Ganseforth on anti-Olympic movements in Japan in German daily taz (11/2020)
Sonja Ganseforth on anti-Olympic activism in Tokyo in AP News and Japan Times articles (11/2020)
Barbara Holthus on postponement of Tokyo Olympics in Danish magazine Idraetsliv (9/2020)
Book added to the Olympic World Library and featured in the latest issue of New releases on Olympism and sport (p. 6)
Barbara Holthus on broken Olympic dreams in German radio Deutschlandfunk Kultur (7/2020)
Barbara Holthus on Japan’s Olympic ambitions for 2021 in Swiss media Blick (7/2020)
Barbara Holthus interviewed on book publication, readme.txt blog (6/2020)
Barbara Holthus on volunteering in German newspaper Rhein Neckar Zeitung (5/2020)
Franz Waldenberger in DLF interview on economic consequences of Tokyo Olympics postponement (5/2020)
Barbara Holthus in DLF podcast on Tokyo Olympics volunteers (5/2020)
Barbara Holthus in The Irish Sun on Tokyo Olympics postponement (3/2020)
Barbara Holthus in JDZB interview on Tokyo Olympics (3/2020)
Franz Waldenberger in ARD podcast Go to Tokyo to go #7 (1/2020)
Barbara Holthus in ARD podcast Go to Tokyo to go #6 (12/2019)
DIJ researchers interviewed by German radio ARD (11/2019)
Events & Presentations
Briefing of Artists (Passagenwerk 2020) for Goethe-Institute Tokyo, Asakusa Culture and Tourism Center (5/2019)
Related Publications
Sonderprojekt:
Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics
seit Mai 2018
Vom 24. Juli bis 9. August 2020 sollte in Tokyo die größte Mega-Veranstaltung der Welt stattfinden: die Olympischen Sommerspiele. Aufgrund der Covid-19 Pandemie wurde der Beginn der Spiele auf den 23. Juli 2021 verschoben. Seit Mai 2018 forscht das DIJ zu sozialen, ökonomischen und politischen Aspekten der Olympischen sowie Paralympischen Spiele in Tokyo. Im Zentrum dieses Sonderforschungsprojektes steht das im April 2020 erschienene open-access Buch Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics.
Das Buch erklärt den facettenreichen Einfluss, den die Spiele, noch bevor sie überhaupt begonnen haben, bereits auf Bevölkerung, Wirtschaft und die Selbstidentität des Landes hatten. Geschrieben von Wissenschaftlern des DIJ und deren Kooperationspartnern versammelt das Buch 34 kurze, leicht lesbare Kapitel zu allen relevanten gesellschaftlichen, wirtschaftlichen, kulturellen und politischen Aspekten, wie z.B. zu Technologie, Sicherheit, Arbeitsstrukturen, Geschichte, Film, Sprache, Freiwilligenarbeit, Architektur und Stadtplanung, Werbung, Kondom-, Sex- und Fischindustrie, die Anti-Olympia-Bewegung, Medien und natürlich auch Sport.
Das Buch ist jetzt erhältlich als Taschenbuch, in gebundener Ausgabe und als open access Ebook.
NEW Watch our author interview series featuring fifteen of our authors who introduce their chapters in short videos on the DIJ YouTube channel. They also address the impact of the postponement (and potential cancellation) of Tokyo 2020 on Japan, their chapter topic, and on their research.
“This is the first – and possibly only – book which explains contemporary Japan through the prism of the Olympics and the Olympics through the lens of Japanese society. Full of fascinating insights and information, it is sure to become a bible for anyone intending to attend (or even just watch) the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Definitely a winner.” -- Roger Goodman, University of Oxford“This book is the perfect companion for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Its short, readable chapters by Japan specialists are full of intriguing information about past and present Olympics in Tokyo, and how hosting the Olympic games reshapes the city of Tokyo. [...] Take this book along as you ride the trains and explore the city. It will be valuable long after the last medal has been awarded.” -- Patricia Steinhoff, University of Hawaii,
“This comprehensive collection by experienced Japan researchers offers highly informative and smartly written commentaries on the social, political, and economic ramifications of Tokyo 2020. [...] This is an essential briefing for anyone wishing to know what is at stake as Tokyo hosts this global sporting mega-event.” -- William W. Kelly, Yale University and author of The Sportsworlds of the Hanshin Tigers: Professional Baseball in Modern Japan
“This volume assembles scholars with a broad spectrum of expertise who provide a thorough overview of the key topics surrounding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Most impressive is that it blends keen analysis of the major issues for Japan with equally keen analysis of the major issues for the Olympic Games. This insightful overview of the intersection of Japan with the Olympics has something for everyone, whether academics, journalists, fans of Olympics or fans of Japan.” -- Susan Brownell, St. Louis University and Author of Beijing Games: What the Olympics Mean to China
“Written by leading experts on Japanese sport and society, this is the perfect guide for anyone – sports fan, tourist, or armchair viewer - wanting to know the inside story about the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tokyo, and Japan in the 21st century.” -- John Horne, Waseda University and author of Understanding the Olympics,
“The 34 chapters cover a wide range of topics—including politics, economy, society, culture, media, cinema, architecture, and, of course, sports—to provide the reader with keen insights into how, in leading up to 2020, Japan is shaping, and being shaped, by the Olympics. An outstanding guide for those seeking to understand contemporary Japan and its future direction.” -- Glen S. Fukushima, Former President, American Chamber of Commerce in Japan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Understanding Japan through the lens of Tokyo 2020
Barbara Holthus, Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter, Franz Waldenberger - Olympics and the media
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Skateboarding: “F*** the Olympics”
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Political games
Axel Klein - Number games: The economic impact of Tokyo 2020
Franz Waldenberger - Climbing: New sport on the block
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Advertising the Games: Sponsoring a new era
Isaac Gagné - Karate: Bowing to the Olympics in style
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Herculean efforts: What the construction of the Olympic Stadium reveals about working conditions in Japan
Steffen Heinrich - Tokyo 2020 and neighborhood transformation: Reworking the entrepreneurial city
Ralph Lützeler - Ho(s)t city: Tokyo’s fight against the summer heat
Jan Lukas Kuhn - Tokyo’s architecture and urban structure: Change in an ever-changing city
Florian Purkarthofer - Success story: The 1964 Tokyo Olympics
Torsten Weber - San’ya 2020: From building to hosting the Tokyo Olympics
Hanno Jentzsch - Baseball/softball: One more homer for Japan
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Outdoor sports in the periphery: Far from the compact games
Daniel Kremers - Surfing: Taken with a grain of salt
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Tokyo’s 1940 “Phantom Olympics” in public memory: When Japan chose war over the Olympics
Torsten Weber - Upgrading Tokyo’s linguistic infrastructure for the 2020 Games
Peter Backhaus - Sexual minorities and the Olympics
Maki Hirayama - The Paralympic Games: Enabling sports and empowering disability
Katharina Heyer - Sex in the city
Maki Hirayama - Games of Romance? Tokyo in search of love and Unity in Diversity
Nora Kottmann - The 2020 Olympic mascot characters: Japan wants to make a difference
Jan Lukas Kuhn - Olympic education: How Tokyo 2020 shapes body and mind in Japan
Wolfram Manzenreiter - Sex in the Village
Maki Hirayama - Volunteering Japan-style: “Field cast” for the Tokyo Olympics
Barbara Holthus - The difference between zero and one: Voices from the Tokyo anti-Olympic movements
Sonja Ganseforth - Beyond 2020: Post-Olympic pessimism in Japanese cinema
Jan Lukas Kuhn - Tokyo 2020 from the regional sidelines
Isaac Gagné - Olympic leverages: The struggle for sustainable food standards
Sonja Ganseforth - Security for the Tokyo Olympics
Sebastian Polak-Rottmann - The Olympic and Paralympic Games as a technology showcase
Franz Waldenberger - Tokyo 2020: Connecting the past with the future
Round table discussion with Munehiko Harada, John Horne, Wolfram Manzenreiter