A ‘green’ Tokyo Olympics?

File photo of an aerial view shows people sitting in formation to the words "thank you" and displaying signs that collectively read &quot...

Article: A year after winning Olympics, Tokyo faces hurdles in move from bid to build

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/winning-olympics-tokyo-faces-hurdles-move-bid-build-114104032–oly.html

This article is about challenges faced in building the new National Stadium in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. In addition to ballooning costs and difficulty fulfilling a vision of hosting the Games within 25 km of Tokyo’s vicinity, the article devotes a section to environmental concerns surrounding this sporting event. Despite promoting sustainability and the use of eco-friendly technology throughout Tokyo, environmentalists fear that hosting the Games will be at the expense of rare green areas in the crowded city. It highlights the risks faced by a seaside park which is proposed as the site for some of the Olympic water sports. This move threatens the park which features pine forests and a bird sanctuary as it will require cutting down most of the trees and dumping fresh water (trucked from far inland) into the sea, which then may damage the wetlands ecosystem.

The political ecology is defined by the pressure to deliver the promises made by the Japanese government when they put in their bid for the event. As one of the most densely populated cities in the world, nature in Tokyo consists of highly controlled areas of parks and gardens. Here, Japan’s image of being ‘green’ is strongly reflected as something superficial in the face of economic gains from hosting the international sporting event. This supports Kirby’s view that nature is appropriated for social interactions, and Totman’s idea that nature is ‘a matter of recreation and luxury’. Indeed, were these small pieces of greenery to disappear, it implies that this city, a representative of Japan, is unable protect its ‘green’ environment in the face of international pressures, appearing less as a ‘green’ nation to the world. This was heatedly conveyed through the words of an activist who questioned “how does destroying nature equal hospitality?” to one of the mantras of the Tokyo’s bid.

However, these issues have the support of environmental activists and an international audience to leverage for greater ‘green’ considerations when planning and building for the Tokyo Olympics. This wider media responses and support signal hope for a city at the cross-roads between staying ‘green’ and going ‘brown’.