ABSTRACT

Anti-Olympic protest is not particularly visible in Japan, but a small, yet internationally connected group of protest veterans from various social movements has joined forces against the Games, which for them highlight most of the problems and contradictions in contemporary Japanese society. Among Olympic discontents are spiraling costs and corruption scandals, nationalism, commercialization and the exploitation of athletes, gentrification and the displacement of homeless and marginalized communities, increased surveillance, the exploitation of construction laborers and the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis. The Tokyo Olympics thus provide a galvanizing moment bringing together activists from different yet interlinking and similarly marginalized social movements.