The rescheduling of Tokyo 2020 and Japan’s Foreign Policy

By Ryosuke Hanada

Ryosuke Hanada is Indo-Pacific Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre. He had been a Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs until March 2020, researching Japan’s foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region and secretariat of the Council of Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) Japan.

In his research analysis, The rescheduling of Tokyo 2020 and Japan’s Foreign Policy, Ryosuke discusses the rescheduling of the Olympics due to COVID-19, and the major challenges this has posed for Japan, both in terms of arranging alternative options and its broader diplomacy efforts.

This is the first postponement in the history of the Olympics. Although this decision – officially announced on 30 March 2020 – was necessary for preventing a further spread of the virus, Japan has to bear additional costs for the postponement. It will need to revise its political and diplomatic schedule, as well as economic outlook for this and next year.

The rescheduling has certainly dented Japanese public diplomacy, but could also be an opportunity to signal Japan’s commitment to cooperation and multilateralism in the international order.