HELLO! TOKYO TOURS | HISTORY OF THE TOKYO OLYMPICS

London and Los Angeles have the record with the most successful Olympic bids in Olympic history - this is if Los Angeles successfully hosts the 2028 Olympics. London has hosted the Olympics in 1908, 1948 and 2012 and would have hosted it 4 times if it did in 1944, but was cancelled due to World War II. Los Angeles in 1932, 1984 and hopefully 2028 - but with events like COVID, we never know what can happen! 

Tokyo could’ve been right up there with London and Los Angeles, but it seems like Tokyo has a curse on the Olympics. Tokyo won the Olympic bid in 1936 to host the 1940 Olympics. To be fair the only other competitor was Helsinki, Finland which was destroyed in 1939 due to aerial bombardments. But, the 1940 Olympics were cancelled because of the outbreak of World War II. But we now know that Tokyo Olympics weren’t cancelled just once, but now twice - well technically postponed. 

Fast forward to post World War II. Japan laid in ruins and was on the path to recovery. They were not invited to participate in the 1948 London Olympics - but let us be honest, Japan needed to rebuild. Japan re-joined the Olympic fold in 1952 for the Helsinki Olympics and in the same year, it announced to join the bid to host the 1960 Olympics. Along with Tokyo, 6 other cities joined the bid: Rome, Lausanne, Detroit, Budapest, Brussels and Mexico City. Tokyo only gathered 4 votes and ended up finishing in the last place for the bid, with the winner going to Rome. In 1955, when IOC president Mr Brundage visited Japan for an inspection, he expressed that Tokyo had a small chance to be selected for the next games but, should re-enter the bid for the 1964 Olympics. 

Using Mr Brundage’s encouraging words, Tokyo entered the bid once again and was selected to host the 1964 Olympics. It became the first Asian country to host the Olympics, but it also gave the war-torn nation a goal and new focus to rebuilding their country. 

Tokyo in 1945 after American air raids

Photo Credits: Japan Times

Tokyo in 1964, less than 20 years after the war.

Photo Credit: Stir World

Tokyo didn’t enter another bid until 2009 when it re-entered to host the 2016 Olympics. Although it’s worthy to mention that Osaka entered the bid to host the 2008 Olympics, but was knocked out in the first round. Obviously, the 2016 bid failed, but Tokyo re-entered the bid for the next Olympics in 2020 and won with an overwhelming fashion over Istanbul with a 60-36 vote in the final round. Well, we know what happens in 2020, but to save us some grief let’s hope the 2021 Olympics will be carried out SAFELY.

While international travel for tourists to Japan will unlikely resume during the Olympics or immediately after, we at Hello! Tokyo Tours really miss you all and hope to see you guys soon once COVID-19 is over. Once you can travel safely, join us on our tours where you can see and learn about how Tokyo developed over time from a war-torn country to a 2-time Olympic host city! As for now, we offer pandemic-friendly activities such as our Holiday by Post Program which will not only give you gifts/postcards from Japan but a discount on your next tour in Tokyo! Sign up here!

Photo Credit: Olympics