Barbara Holthus comments on legacy of Tokyo Olympics
One year ago the Tokyo Olympics were opened. What remains as their legacy? DIJ deputy director Barbara Holthus, who was a volunteer at the Games, commented on the Games’ legacy and Japan’s future Olympic ambitions for an AP article (21 July 2022). “People were so upset that Thomas Bach pushed the Olympics down everybody’s throat without consideration for Japanese sentiments”, she said. “And now they want to it again without asking the people of Sapporo.” But Barbara also noted a positive shift in volunteers’ attitudes towards their involvement in the Games: whereas one year ago many of them “didn’t want to be seen in their neighborhood with the uniform on”, the “bad taste of the uniform now is kind of gone”, she explained. For more information on research related to the Tokyo Olympics, see the DIJ’s special project on the Tokyo Olympics and the open access book publication Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics.