Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics

The world is going to look towards Tokyo and Japan during the time of the Olympics in the summer of 2020. It is therefore the ideal time to publish a book ahead of the Games, situating the mega event within explanations of contemporary Japan, showing how the Olympics serve as catalyst for important issues in Japanese society. The book provides intelligent background information on the Olympics from multiple angles, showing the Olympics as a multifaceted event, deeply impacting society, politics, the economy, and public discourse already since several years ahead of the games.
The book offers multidisciplinary perspectives and is the product of ongoing research and extensive close communication among scholars from the fields of political science, sociology, economics, theater studies, history, anthropology, linguistics, and social geography.

The collection aims at the same time at the academic community (in Asian studies, social sciences, and sport studies), as well as at a broad, general readership, who are potential visitors to Japan in the lead up or during the Olympic games, and who look for an easy to read, yet intellectually stimulating account of numerous things surrounding the Olympic games that they could not read anywhere else than in this accumulation of articles.
The book will however also have a lasting impact and will not become obsolete after the Olympic games in Tokyo have wrapped up. The readers will receive many interesting aspects about the construction of the mega event, but also learn from the way the games were implemented, marketed, the reactions and response by the rest of the country, and how all this is historically embedded. Therefore the book provides a window onto Japan as a whole, not just the mega event itself. In addition, the book will also be of interest to students and colleagues within the diverse disciplines focusing on Japan, and can also serve as an alternative entry-level textbook to studying and teaching undergraduate students on Japan in sociology, anthropology, political science, and Japanese studies broadly.
The book will be available in paperback and open access by January 2020.