I live in Yokohama, a city of 3.5 million people, and is part of the Greater Tokyo area. Total population is 38 million. I thought I'd start a Tokyo Olympics 2020 thread, because of the level of information that's needed to make the Olympics enjoyable and as economical as possible. I'll be creating a number of different posts, for different aspects of how / what / where / when. When: Friday 24th July 2020 - Sunday August 9th. It's exactly this time next year. Weather. It's the Summer Olympics, and it's very much summer in Japan. Although central Japan gets snow in winter, it's also hot and humid in summer Mean maximum temperature in late July /early August (last 10 years) is 31 degrees C (88F) Mean minimum temperature in late July /early August (last 10 years) is 24 degrees C (75F) This means that it is often still warm at night (for example, right now at 11pm, it's still 27.4 degrees C (81F)). It's been sunny for most of the day, but the humidity is currently 85%. Today's high was 33.7C (93F), lowest humidity was 64%. The mean maximum so far in August is 35.1 degrees C(95F). You can expect similar during the 2020 Olympics. There are a number of ways to cope with being out and about all day in the heat and humidity. - Stay hydrated. Vending machines dispense bottles of water, usually for around 110-120 yen (about $1.50 AUD, $1.00 USD, 0.93 EUR). Other drinks are usually around 150yen. Japan has 6 million vending machines, so they are everywhere, and they work!! - There are many, many convenience stores. There are often convenience stores within 50m of each other: 7-Eleven, Lawsons, Family Mart are the main ones, along with Sunkus & Mini Stop. They have international ATMs. - Fans. You can buy folding Japanese fans in many places. Some electronic stores give out larger plastic/paper fans for free. - Wipes. These are cooling wipes you can get at convenience stores. These are a must.The Gatsby "ice type" have cooling menthol. More later.
Location of Olympics venues. The main venues are located in the area around the Olympic Stadium, near Shinjuku & Yoyogi (Heritage Zone). The others in in the bayside area of Odaiba.(Tokyo Bay Zone). I don't think any venues are near to Tokyo Station. More info about this later. Accommodation near the venues will be expensive. I've heard that even Airbnb, big enough for 4 people, even at this early stage of booking, is around 35,000yen a night (about $450 AUD). The best strategy is to find places to stay within perhaps 1 hour by train to both areas (more info on this later).
Were staying Airbnb at the same place in April next year as we did this year in April and are paying nearly the same for 6 nights as we payed for 9 nights
And I guess you could double it for the Olympics.... Where is that located? It's a danger for those Airbnb people that if they expect to get the same money AFTER the Olympics as they do during, they may get nobody at all.
There will be pressure on accomodation leading up to the Olympics, service providers, delegates, reporters, tourists not going to Olympics but wanting to have Squizz at the goings on/developments... I reckon you may even get a few going a few months early to take in Cherry Blossoms as a once in a lifetime opportunity, then tourism activities then Olympics.
9 months ago I was considering signing up as an english speaking information volunteer, but all the positions were already filled with thousands in reserve if they need. seems like they'll have quite a few people on the ground to help.
Ok so for the first 7 days of August in Tokyo, we have: The mean maximum 1st-7th August is 34.8 degrees C(95F) The mean minimum 1st-7th August is 26.2 degrees C(79F) Even though there's been no rain at all in this period, yesterday had a minimum relative humidity of 60% (3pm), and a maximum of 87% (5am) ### Be prepared for hot steamy weather while outdoors!!! **Compare to Australia in January: City : mean max : mean min Sydney : 26C : 19C Melbourne: 26C : 14C Brisbane : 30C : 21C Adelaide : 29C : 17C Perth : 30C : 18C Hobart : 22C : 12C Canberra : 29C :14C
Train Travel: - Important for access to venues. - Important for access from accommodation to central Tokyo. - Currently, trains stop around or just after midnight. This may be different during the Olympics. The map shows the main JR (Japan Rail) lines. There are MANY other trains. - JR Yamanote is useful for a slow loop around central Tokyo, and to link between other JR lines and the Subway lines (Subway is extensive, but not shown) - Chuo Line (orange) is useful for fast access from the west of Tokyo. - Keihin-Tohoku Line, is useful for slow access from the north and south of Tokyo. - Tokaido(& Tokyo-Ueno) and Yokosuka Lines are useful for fast access mainly from further south of Tokyo. (but some provide services north) - Sobu Line is useful for slow access from the east. - Keikyu Line (not JR, not shown, but similar route to Tokaido & Yokosuka Line as far as Yokohama) also provides fast access from the south - The pink lines show other rail/subway that can use to get you to the bayside venues. Dotted lines are the two "zones". The blue circles show approx venues. The reason I think JR is more useful has to do with accommodation. In order to access reasonably priced lodgings, you need to be further out of central Tokyo, where subway is not much use, or is too slow. I will post later on accommodation (areas)
I highly recommend that people who will be in Japan for skiing late February - early March next season apply for Tokyo Marathon 2020. The General Entry will continue to be open until Friday, August 30 at 5:00 p.m. (JST). Except the Start / Finish, the Tokyo Marathon 2020 course is the same as the Tokyo Olympics course. The image below is the Tokyo Olympics Marathon course. The Start / Finish = Olympics Stadium(it's under construction now) and the only difference is the Start / Finish of Tokyo Marathon 2020 is Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, so you can run almost the same course 5 months before the Olympics
You probably won't hear much about it until it happens, but Australia has a real chance to get 2 medals in the new BMX freestyle event. There are only something like 12 athletes competing, with a limit of one per nation, except the top ranked nation which gets two spots. And we are currently top-ranked. Brandon Loupos, Jake Wallwork and Logan Martin could all get gold and two of them will probably get to go. Not sure how tickets etc are working, but if you're planning to go and are looking for spectacular events, that might be cheaper than the famous ones, keep an eye out. edit: and Rin Nakumura could win it for the host nation. Amazing young rider who's always smiling.
This is a good idea, because I've heard that tickets for popular events are expensive and hard to get, even now. And same with accommodation, you need to start looking for both now!!!
And the table tennis showdown between Japan and China is going to be EPIC. Men's final between big man Fan Zhendong, and the tiny wild child prodigy Harimoto Tomokazu, already a shoe-in.
Re the tickets...anyone who hasn’t used Co-sport for tickets before be warned. Effort and a half to get tix, hardly ever any available unless you buy a “package”, communication is horrendous and the mark up from gate price is ridiculous. But it’s really the only option.
Men's 4×100m relay is going to be epic as well. Japan won the silver medal at Rio Olympics 2016, beating the USA (Bolt's Jamaica won the gold). When Japan won the silver, Japan didn't have even a sub-10 seconds runner, but now Japan has 3 sub-10 seconds runners and all of them are very young and some of them are likely to break their personal bests by Tokyo Olympics. It's the most expensive ticket, though. I heard the ticket price is 130,000 Yen.
Better yet you could try and get one of the 40-50,000 paid jobs that the games provides. If you get in early you'll almost certainly be posted at a venue for the duration of the event, and potentially at a venue for the Paralympics too. I worked for Acer back at the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver, as an IT contractor, and it was a great experience. Unfortunately I ended up in HQ for the main games, but was posted at the Sledge Hockey venue for the duration of the Para's. A lot of the people involved get addicted and travel to the next games, and then the next games after that, and so on.
Any Most funny - it was the IOC who absolutly wanted the games in mid summer. In 1964 it was in october because of heat problem in the summer. Televison money made the crazy summer plan this time.
I've been trying for a General Entry for TM years - still no luck. There's about 320,000 runners wanting one of 37,000 slots.
Russia banned in a number of sports by WADA because of tampering with laboratory data by planting fake evidence and deleting files linked to positive doping tests that could have helped identify drug cheats. From the Beeb: Russia has been handed a four-year ban from all major sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). It means the Russia flag and anthem will not be allowed at events such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and football's 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But athletes who can prove they are untainted by the doping scandal will be able to compete under a neutral flag. Wada's executive committee made the unanimous decision in a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. It comes after Russia's Anti Doping Agency (Rusada) was declared non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data handed over to investigators in January 2019. It had to hand over data to Wada as a condition of its controversial reinstatement in 2018 after a three-year suspension for its vast state-sponsored doping scandal. Wada says Rusada has 21 days to appeal against the ban. If it does so, the appeal will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). Wada vice-president Linda Helleland said the ban was "not enough". "I wanted sanctions that can not be watered down," she said. "We owe it to the clean athletes to implement the sanctions as strongly as possible." A total of 168 Russian athletes competed under a neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the country was banned following the 2014 Games, which it hosted in Sochi. Russian athletes won 33 medals in Sochi, 13 of which were gold. Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015. Despite the ban, Russia will be able to compete at Euro 2020 - in which St Petersburg will be a host city - as European football's governing body Uefa is not defined as a 'major event organisation' with regards to rulings on anti-doping breaches.
Coronavirus has triggered the cancellation of the first MotoGP of 2020 due to be held in Qatar this weekend. The 2nd, in Thailand 2 weeks later is currently indefinitely postponed (highly likely to be cancelled). At this stage Ferrari's participation in the first Formula 1 GP in Melbourne on 15 March is under doubt. Qatar and Melbourne are because of travel restrictions upon Italy. I don't know if Thailand is the same reason. Both MotoGP decisions made by the National Governments, not by Dorna, the sporting governing body. Is it now fair the speculate as to whether the Olympics may similarly be affected?
I got lucky in the ballot for 2013, awesome experience with all the other runners & everyone cheering you on. Good luck for next year!
The IOC have already said that they would make a decision in May. The Japanese Prime Minister responded, saying that the Olympics would go ahead. Japan has taken steps to reduce possible spread of the virus, I think partly to safeguard the Olympics. Schools have taken the end of academic year 3 weeks early. Various theme parks have been closed, Tokyo Marathon was restricted to around 250 competitors (normally 37,000), and crowds told not to attend. Many Japanese businesses have told employees to work from home (including mine). Trains are quieter than usual, ski resorts are quiet.
Rather than cancelling, they might postpone it. Which would be benefical for the athletes, because holding it later in the year would mean lower temperatures instead of the sweltering summer heat. But for now the government seems set to hold it according to schedule. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...cs-to-end-of-year-minister-says-idUSKBN20Q0ST
ABC News: Full steam, athletes — the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead, says IOC. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03...es-will-go-ahead-despite-coronavirus/12023164
Changing its schedule would cause massive impacts to broadcasters and the money there is huge. CNN would not be amused. Also, the hospitality turmoil would be insane. Bookings cancellation would be a nightmare, travel arrangements, etc
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2...ng-committee-member-tells-paper/#.XmiVDagzbcs Possibly 1-2 year delay
I'd say it's not a bad news. IOC can't cancel Tokyo Olympics because it's not Japan's fault. Supposing it can't be cancelled, what is the worst scenario? I think it's Tokyo Olympics without spectators (not all events but some Olympics events can be done without spectators if COVID-19 panic is not subsiding). Plus, I think money is more spent during the preparing period, rather than during + after the Olympics period. So, postponing it for a year or two years mean more money is likely to be spent for tourism industry And it's not a matter of how many infected people Japan have. I mean, more and more people are being infected in Europe and I assume the US will have quite many infected people by the end of this month. As of today (March 11th), the number of infected people in the US is 1,037 and it's very likely that the US has actually a lot more "hidden" infected people. American broadcasting companies have paid IOC quite huge amount of money for Olympics (including Tokyo Olympics). If COVID-19 spreads in the US, they will try to make IOC postpone Tokyo Olympics (and they will never let IOC cancel Olympics because they've already paid a lot).
What about the athletes though?? I guess they would be the type of people unlikely to have serious trouble with the virus... (too young and healthy)
It's the Olympics.... If some athletes stay away, there's more chance to win Gold, so plenty will still compete!!!!!
For Athletes the issues are going to be that will have been training to peak for these Olympics, many in the lower profile sports would have spent a bomb on coaching, competing at national and international events and will struggle to go another two years. For the odd athlete two years could push them beyond their prime (ie too old). Elite athletes can be funny with health issues, they are so often running on knifes edge to perform at their very best they can get really badly knocked around by flus and general bugs. That said it appears that the majority of the worst effected / deaths from COVID-19 have been over 70 or suffering comorbidity.
I'd say it's correct for them to say "No plans to delay it" till it has been officially determined / decided. It's a common process / procedure to avoid media spreading confusion. I don't think it's a rubbish. If I were the official, I guess I would also say "No plans to delay it" at this stage even though I'm thinking "It might be better to postpone it". Last night, Trump said "It might be better to postpone Tokyo Olympics for a year or so". I do think it's getting more realistic as the number of infected people in the US (and Europe) have started increasing a lot. It's American broadcasting companies who have been paying IOC by far the most for the Olympics and the IOC headoffice is in Europe(and EU's economy is very big too). If the US and EU are not very ready for Olympics, Tokyo Olympics can be postponed for a year or two years, but till it's been officially decided, the officials will keep saying "no plans to delay it" and I don't think it's a rubbish.
The article you posted said "If the Olympics can’t be held in Tokyo this summer due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus" It never said it WOULD be delayed.
Im not sure I read the exact quoted text or not, but my understanding is this official has come out with an apology for his comments. But you're right, maybe people have misunderstood a bit what he had said. Still, I guess he shouldnt comment until official decisions are made
As I understand if there has been a delay in announcing the postponement due to who was going to carry the majority of the costs. If Japan calls it, its us, if its the IOC its them. Luckily it appears the IOC's hand has been forced.
