ABSTRACT
Mitigation responses to the Covid-19 pandemic during sports events in Japan have taken a variety of forms. Some professional sport leagues barred spectators, others postponed competition altogether. This chapter focuses on local and school-oriented events early in the 2020 outbreak drawing from original field work during two sports tournaments: one at the end of February, and the other, at the beginning of March. Observations of attempted virus mitigation can inform future strategies. Findings suggest that localized responses reorganized the activity of all involved. Mitigation tactics included: the organization of community activity around strategically placed bottles of hand sanitizer, official and homemade hygiene communication materials, almost total mask-wearing compliance, enforcement efforts to maintain such practices, and greater community safety measures. With no clear governmental guidance at the time of the events, the close relationships between participants at these local events encouraged compliance. Finally, this chapter suggests next steps and future research for organizing sport events during pandemics learned from these early stage, on-the-ground responses.
