＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
On September 7, 2013, at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) General Assembly held in Buenos Aires, Tokyo was selected as the host city for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, beating out rival cities Madrid and Istanbul.
I think there were many reasons why Tokyo was chosen, including Christel Takigawa’s famous “Omotenashi” presentation, the noble cause of reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the fact that public support for hosting the Olympics was gradually increasing thanks to the efforts of those involved in the bid.
I am very pleased that it has been decided that the event will be held in Tokyo, however the date is from July 24th to August 9th, which is during the hottest period of midsummer.
At first, I vaguely thought that the date would be early to late October, just like in 1964. In Japan, the best seasons for playing and watching sports are October and May.
However, since May has Golden Week, I thought it would probably end up being October.
1. Why the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held in midsummer
There are several reasons why Tokyo 2020 was chosen to host the Olympics from July to August.
(1) In Christian countries such as Greece, where the Olympics originated, and the United States and the United Kingdom, the new school term begins in August or September, so holding the Olympics before the new school term is a convenient time.
(2) It is to make money for American TV stations. Major League Baseball starts its postseason in the fall, and the basketball season also starts. It is a completely commercial reason.
(3) It does not overlap with European soccer matches. The European Championships are held from June to early July, and national leagues start at the end of August. This is also a commercial reason for television stations.
2. “Heat prevention measures” for the “Tokyo Olympics 2020”
Even so, I think that the “extreme heat” and “high humidity” in Japan are incomparable to other past host countries. However, if it is impossible to change the competition schedule, the organizers, the athletes, and the spectators need to come up with sufficient countermeasures.
(1) For outdoor events, the start time must be moved to early morning or the event itself must be held at night. If an event cannot be held early in the morning or at night, all possible measures must be taken to prevent heatstroke among athletes, spectators, and organizers.
Outdoor sports include marathons, triathlons, cycling, athletics, golf, shooting, canoeing, rowing, beach volleyball, sailing, rugby sevens, soccer, tennis and hockey.
In particular, marathon events should be held in the early morning hours of 5 or 6 a.m. Outdoor events should be held at night in principle, and air conditioning in spectator seats should be fully equipped.
There seems to be an opinion that “summer time” should be introduced to move the time forward by one or two hours during the summer, but doing so would have too much impact on things other than the Olympics, and since summer time itself has been criticized for various problems, I think it would be sufficient to move the start time forward or to hold the competition at night.
I’m sure it will be difficult to adjust the time slots for the preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals, adjust the athletes’ condition, and deal with lighting and security issues, but I hope they can find some way to get through it.
There may be outdoor events where it is simply not possible to hold them at night, but in those cases, it is necessary to take every possible measure to prevent heatstroke, especially for athletes, spectators, and organizers. This will be explained in detail in (2).
(2) Providing or selling “heatstroke prevention goods” (such as the “crushed ice bags” used in summer high school baseball games or “ice packs”) to players, spectators, and people involved in the sport such as umpires, crowd managers, and security personnel, and taking all possible measures to ensure an emergency medical system.
For long-distance events such as marathons, even if they are held early in the morning or in the morning, spectators will be waiting outside for long periods of time for the runners to arrive, so special care is required.
Dehydration can be a life-threatening condition. I am concerned that tragedies due to heat stroke or dehydration may occur during the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Kanakuri Shiso (1891-1983), the protagonist of the 2019 taiga drama “Idaten: Tokyo Olympic Story,” also participated in the marathon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, but collapsed from heatstroke midway through the race. He was cared for by a nearby farmer and only regained consciousness the morning after the race.
On the day of the marathon at the Stockholm Olympics, the temperature reached a record high of 40 degrees, and although there was a water station at the halfway point, he did not stop there.
Apparently, about half of the 68 participants “dropped out midway.” It seems that the conditions were so harsh that one athlete collapsed during the race and even died the next day. Hearing this story makes me a little worried about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
(3) Both the opening and closing ceremonies will be held at night.
I also think that the “Opening Ceremony” should ideally be held during the day, but if it is unavoidable to hold it in midsummer, wouldn’t it be possible to hold it at night and devise a “fantastic fire and light show”? I’m sure security would be a lot of work, though…
(4) Indoor stadiums must be equipped with air conditioning.
Indoor sports include boxing, wrestling, judo, volleyball, basketball, handball, badminton, table tennis, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, fencing, and weightlifting.
Indoor stadiums are very spacious and hold a large number of spectators, so it may be difficult to air-condition them, but since it is the middle of summer, sufficient air conditioning is necessary to prevent heatstroke.
However, for sports like badminton, where the wind from the air conditioner (air flow) can have a subtle effect on the shuttlecock, it is necessary to listen to the opinions of experts and devise air conditioning that will have as little effect on the sport as possible. In addition, it seems necessary to check whether table tennis balls are affected by the wind from the air conditioner.
However, going back to the basics, there may be issues with TV broadcasting rights, but is it absolutely impossible to “change the date to October 10th”? If the date is set to July 24th, isn’t it similar to students who desperately want to get into the University of Tokyo entering the Faculty of Agriculture, which is relatively easy to get into?
Are you sacrificing your real studies in order to get the name “Tokyo University student” when you actually want to enter the Faculty of Law or Faculty of Economics? However, in the case of universities, even if you enter the Faculty of Agriculture, there is a possibility of “transferring” depending on your grades in the liberal arts courses when you move on to the specialized courses, and some people have been lucky enough to transfer, but this seems similar to “back door entry.”
I would like to ask those involved to reconsider whether negotiations for a “schedule change” rather than a “transfer” would be allowed for the Olympics as well.
Finally, I believe that heat prevention measures for Paralympic athletes require even more careful consideration than those for able-bodied Olympic athletes.
I believe that we must never let a repeat of the tragedy that occurred among marathon runners at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, which I mentioned earlier.