ABSTRACT
On September 7, 2013 the International Olympic Committee announced that Tokyo would host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The announcement catalyzed a significant re-evaluation of heritage conservation in Japan, and in particular of its modernist iconic buildings and infrastructure built in the 1950s and 1960s. Structures completed in the context of another key moment in Japan’s modern history – namely the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – were appreciated by a handful of academics, professionals and architecture tourists but weren’t broadly recognized as valuable historical assets worthy of material conservation. Significant modernist buildings have been steadily and quietly disappearing for years, without much ado, or public protest. It seems that the decision to host the summer Olympic Games once again has created a sincere sensitivity to the post-war built legacy.
This chapter explores the new wave of heritage conservation from two perspectives: the use of heritage in two recent Olympic bids and the reinvigoration of heritage conservation efforts focused on the post World War II built environment. The idea of “heritage” was a central category in Tokyo’s failed bid of 2009 and the following successful bid of 2013. Each proposal declared the intention to reuse 1964 Olympic facilities such as Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium or Mamoru Yamada’s Nippon Budokan Hall (Arena for traditional Japanese martial arts), giving a nod to the globally appealing idea of heritage without feeling a genuine commitment to the cause. Concurrently, controversial actions such as the destruction of Yoshiro Taniguchi’s Hotel Okura (1962) or Mitsuo Katayama’s National Stadium (1958) were planned. Efforts to conserve Tokyo’s rich legacy of post-war architecture, as well as important infrastructure like the inner city expressway system or the Tsukiji fish market, is now filtered through the lens of a new national image constructed around ideals such as maturity, environmentalism, and soft power.
