Why Tokyo is greater than ever thanks to its postponed Olympics
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics would have started today if not for the Covid-19 Pandemic. The only silver lining is the Japanese capital has become an even more appealing tourist destination thanks to many projects completed for the Olympics, which has been postponed until 2021.
From new museums, to upgraded public spaces, Olympic exhibits, cutting-edge taxis, and public service robots, Tokyo’s Olympic enhancements are many and varied. Here’s five ways the postponed Olympics have improved Tokyo.
Want a hand? Ask a robot
Just as I realised I was in need of help, up rolled my saviour. He had no face and couldn’t speak, yet offered me valuable assistance, directing me to the nearest toilet and informing me where I could change Australian currency in this upmarket shopping centre in Tokyo.
This is Reborg-X, an artificially intelligent robot who independently moves around Shin-Marunouchi centre aiding tourists via his touchscreen panel, which provides information on everything from weather to shopping, dining and entertainment options.
Japan is at the forefront of the robotics and AI industries, so it’s fitting that robots like Reborg-X will play a key role at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Japan is planning to showcase it technological savvy to a global audience at the Olympics. From armies of robots, to driver-less taxis and buses, instant language translation devices, virtual reality training for Olympic staff, and facial recognition software to grant access to venues, Tokyo is going high-tech.
Celebrating Olympic history
It was impossible to miss. After walking around the perimeter of Tokyo’s amazing new Olympic Stadium in the Shinjuku district, I spied a tall glass building emblazoned with the Olympic Rings. Opened late last year, the large and impressively modern Japan Olympic Museum delves into the history of the Summer and Winter Olympics.
It pays particularly close attention to Japan’s tumultuous relationship with the event. While Japan will at least get a second shot at organising the next Summer Olympics, in 1940 Tokyo had to forfeit hosting the event due to World War II.
As this fascinating museum details, Japan got three chances to repair its international image after WWII by hosting the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. On display here are replicas of the Olympic torches carried at each of those Olympics, as well athlete medals, books and posters from those events, among many other items.
A taxi trip to the future
One of the quirks of Tokyo is that, despite its futuristic appearance, its taxi fleet long has consisted mostly of old-fashioned Toyota Crowns designed in the mid-1990s. Now this ageing icon of Tokyo is dying off due to the Olympics. Tokyo overhauled its public transport ahead of the scheduled 2020 event, phasing out many of its Crown taxis in favour of Toyota’s first new taxi model in more than two decades – the JPN.
I was standing outside Tokyo’s Imperial Palace when I decided take my first ride in the JPN, a five-door station wagon taxi that now outnumbers the Crown in the Japanese capital. I quickly came to appreciate its modern amenities.
It has a one-touch card payment device, a touch-screen LCD display in the back of the front seat headrests, multiple smartphone charging ports, and even an air purification system to protect passengers from viruses. Foreigners who catch these JPN taxis can even communicate with the driver using wearable instant translation devices which were designed for the 2020 Olympics.
A day at the beach
Tokyo Bay belies the popular perception of the Japanese capital. I found none of the crowds, nests of skyscrapers and frenetic pace of life for which Tokyo is renowned. In their place were open green spaces, quiet beaches and the most laidback atmosphere I’ve encountered in this city.
This area won’t be the same, though, when the next Olympics eventually goes ahead, as it has been designated as one of Tokyo’s two main Olympic precincts. Tokyo Bay boasts a cluster of venues for the Olympic gymnastics, volleyball, hockey, equestrian, archery and water sports events.
Due to hosting that latter group of events, the waters of the bay have been recently cleansed to make them suitable not just for Olympic competitors but also for tourists who want to swim at scenic spots like Odaiba Beach. That’s right, Tokyo has a beach. This 800m long strip of sand is particularly appealing from May to September when the city’s weather ranges from warm to steaming hot.
A Paralympic experience
Shooting a basketball while seated is significantly harder than it looks. It is not just the 2020 Olympics which was a victim of the Pandemic, but also the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and at Tokyo Bay’s fun park, Toyota Mega Web, visitors can now try Paralympic sports like wheelchair basketball and boccia.
Mega Web also has several displays on the history of the Paralympics, as well as a “race track” where visitors can test-drive new models of Toyota. An indoor driving area, meanwhile, showcases some of Toyota’s latest concept vehicles, including the tiny, single-passenger i-RIDE. Such a small, manoeuvrable car could be very handy when the Olympic crowds finally descend on Tokyo.
