ABSTRACT
In summer 2020, Tokyo was meant to be at the centre of the world’s attention as host city of the greatest media spectacle of modernity, the Olympic and Paralympic Games. For more than a decade, Japan prepared for the rare opportunity of communicating ideas about itself and visions about its future to domestic and global audiences. This chapter demonstrates how the political economy of sports mega-events has been shaping Japan’s embracing of the sporting event. Despite being drafted prior to the events in question, it provides some answers to the following questions: who thrives on the Games as business, who benefits from the Games as media platform and who is likely to pay the bill?
