Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
One of Ishihara's main aims was to make Tokyo the first Asian city to host the
Olympic Games
twice. The bid for 2016 failed, with the event going to Rio instead;
after the Tokyo city reins had been handed over to former journalist
Inose Naoki
in
2012, the 2020 application proved successful, with Tokyo beating off competition
from Madrid and Istanbul. The National Olympic Stadium will, after a full refurb,
once again be the centre of proceedings; other venues include Tokyo Big Sight
(wrestling, fencing and taekwondo), the Imperial Palace gardens (cycling), and sumo's
Ryōgoku Kokugikan (boxing, appropriately).
However, architecture and mega-events aside, Tokyo is not exactly in rude health. The
gigantic
Tōhoku earthquake
, which hit in 2011 (see box, p.251), saw waves of of
cials
step down amidst claims of corruption and spreading misinformation. Despite
occasional glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, the national
economy
remains
stagnant; the city's unemployment rate has risen to an all-time high of almost 5 percent,
while its fertility rate has dropped below 1 percent (even lower than the national
average). It will be interesting, too, to witness how Japan handles its looming ageing-
population problem; countries expecting a similar timebomb to go off further down the
line will be watching avidly.
1992
1995
2002
2020
Bursting of
economic bubble
Sarin attack on
Tokyo subway
Hosting of World Cup
Due to host Olympic Games
for the second time
