The 1964 and 2020 Tokyo Japan Olympics Summer games logos.
Tokyo getting awarded the 2020 Summer Olympic Games is great news for Japan. A country that has taken a beating in the last few years in front of the entire instant-information world. The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear troubles that the world watched live in 2011 were just another blow to a country that was also sliding from economic and technological dominance.
The 2020 Olympics will be a chance for Japan to re-emerge as a country that can take that beating and not just survive but show the world why it is a powerhouse. Again. Yes, again.
Many of these same ideas and metaphors parallel the the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, though stemming from much different origins. The ’64 Olympics were more of a re-acceptance and re-emergence as Japan pulled itself together after the dark years of war. In fact, Japan had won the bid for the 1940 Olympics but abandon it as the world plunged into war. The 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo were a chance for Japan to show the world they were back. This was the new reformed Japan. A Japan preaching peace and looking for acceptance using the grandest “non-political” stage in the world. The Emperor and the Hinomaru (red sun flag) that were synonymous with the war years, were now being used to revive its international status while also restoring its national pride.
The Tokyo games set many precedents that were Olympic firsts. The main one being that it was the first Olympic ...