[Applause]
[Music]
at this stage in 2021 you may not have
realized but during this year there were
olympic games the most important
sporting event in the world was held in
one of the most fascinating cities in
the world tokyo the capital of manga
samurai and sushi none of that was
enough to get your attention and it's
not just me seeing it the data says it
too
nbc's tokyo 2020 audience lowest since
1988 olympics the drop in audiences has
been catastrophic globally it ranges
from between 25 and 30 but here on
visualpolitik we wonder what exactly is
the real fascination with the olympic
games
just a few years ago the olympic games
with a wet dream of any leader it seemed
an absolute truth that hosting the
olympic games was the best thing that
could happen to put your country on the
map the barcelona 1992 olympic games
served to show that spain was a modern
and democratic country beijing in 2008
showed the power of new china however
tokyo 2021 has shown japan's worst shame
and no it's not just that the
coronavirus threw a spanner in the works
is that it is really a failure whichever
way you look at it check this out
oxford study tokyo olympics are the most
costly summer games those of you who
follow visualpolitik and why would you
not well remember that two years ago we
predicted right here on this channel
that tokyo 2020 was going to be a bust
and that was when we thought that at the
very least tokyo would get a few extra
tourists but with the coronavirus
pandemic japan had to close the doors to
the country so they've had zero tourists
zilch nothing at all so the question is
to what extent of the game's been a
catastrophe for japan and well we see
political consequences and what affects
us almost closely are we looking at the
end of the olympic games as we know them
today on visualpolitik we're going to
answer all of these questions but first
let's look at some history
phantom olympics
tokyo has a love-hate relationship with
the olympics we are talking about one
great success and too many
disappointments you see over the course
of history the tokyo has been for the
olympics five times the first time was
in 1940 the rulers of japan wanted to
show the might of their empire the only
problem was that it was in 1940 world
war ii had just broken out so japan gave
up hosting the olympics in japan's
collective memory however the 1940 games
are remembered as the mariboshi no arab
pinku the phantom olympics two decades
later tokyo made a comeback in an
attempt to secure the 1960 games but it
was no match for rome's bid however the
third time proved to be the charm
[Music]
tokyo hosted the 1964 olympic games
japan took the opportunity to tell the
world that had become a capitalist
democracy the japanese capital which had
been reduced to ashes in 1945 emerged as
a modern metropolis new roads and
infrastructure such as the famous bullet
train were built
those were the first times gains were
broadcast via satellite a technological
miracle made in japan and because these
games were such a success the japanese
were eager to repeat the experience the
problem the problem is that the olympic
spirit has changed a lot
the games have doubled in size there are
twice as many athletes twice as many
countries and twice as many competitions
all this means that organizing the games
today means spending a fortune roads
hotels olympic villages stadiums and all
of this to be used for just one month
the month in which the games take place
and what happens after that well just
ask the brazilians
rio looks apocalyptic a year after the
olympics i present to you the reality of
the olympic games in the last three
decades there has not been a single
olympics that has been profitable
however little of that has mattered in
2019 a whopping 90 of japanese people
were excited about the tokyo 2020 games
so the yen was never lacking and believe
me we are talking about a lot of yen
[Music]
the initial budget was 7.3 billion
dollars but the organizing committee
officially acknowledged that these
figures had risen to 12.6 billion
dollars the postponement and preventive
measures against covert 19 added another
2.8 billion to make the final bill 15.4
billion dollars however a japanese
government audit estimated the total
investment to be more than 28 billion
with a b
[Music]
this audit includes infrastructure
spending that studies such as oxford
university exclude because they consider
them to be investments that japan would
had to undertake sooner or later in this
sense the beijing games along with the
winter games organized by russia and
sochi take the gold medal as the most
expensive in history but if we stick to
the cost of organizing the games the
preparation for those weeks of sporting
competition tokyo has no rival they went
all out because these games were prime
minister shinzo abe's big gamble an
opportunity to tell the world that after
decades of economic stagnation and
natural disasters japan was back it
would be a tremendous honor for us
to host the games in 2020
in tokyo one of the
safest
sisters
in the world
now
and in
2020 sun
may
have concerns about fukushima let me
assure you
the station
is
under control
[Music]
another goal for the government was to
demonstrate that japan has not fallen
behind the united states or china in
terms of technology for decades japan
had been the benchmark when it came to
computers televisions and video games
now they wanted to use the olympics to
set a new technological milestone in
olympic history the problem is that i
doubt that many of you even noticed it
nhk to broadcast 200 hours of tokyo
olympics in 8k indeed the japanese
public television station spent a lot of
money to offer 8k broadcasts the only
problem hardly anyone owns an 8k
television so few people notice the
quality of the broadcasts money down the
drain but wait a minute because the
story gets even worse check this out
[Music]
akira is one of the most mythical
japanese comics in history the otakus
who are watching this video need not for
me to explain what it is and for those
of you who aren't familiar it's a comic
published in 1982 but set in 2019. in
the comic the city of neo tokyo is about
to hold the olympic games and the truth
is that akira's dystopian portrayal of
the event corresponds pretty closely to
reality
olympics to be held under tokyo's fourth
coronavirus state of emergency it is
clear that these games were unique to
begin with they have been held in 2021
the first time they've been held in an
odd numbered year and all of this effort
only to have health restrictions
ultimately prevent the public from being
in the stands even so shinzo abe's
successor prime minister yoshihide suga
remained determined to hold the games at
all costs and all of this despite the
fact that the pandemic is causing almost
10 000 deaths worldwide every day
nevertheless japan insisted on hosting
the olympic games even though they knew
they were not going to make it
profitable a decision more difficult to
understand than the ending of akira this
one goes out to you my dear otaku's
what's more in order to organize the
games they had to put the most bizarre
restrictions in place and take notes
because this is where the story heats up
or rather
the opposite
alcohol allowed but no condom
distribution in tokyo olympic village
that's right condoms have been handed
out in the olympic village since 1988.
think about it athletes are young people
with exceptionally good bodies and
testosterone running wild come on they
probably have some high voltage parties
but during the time of covid it seems no
condoms i mean wouldn't it have been
easier to postpone the olympics for
another year i mean i'm not the only one
saying this that is what the majority of
japanese citizens thought as well forty
percent called for a further perspective
another forty percent wanted tokyo to
abandon the games all together think
about it while the japanese had to
endure a lot of ongoing restrictions
they had to see 50 000 athletes from
almost 200 different countries coming
into the country and all this because
japan has handled covert 19 pretty well
it has 126 million people with a
noticeably aging population and yet
deaths have hovered around 17 000 since
the start of the pandemic these figures
are largely due to the seriousness with
which the japanese respected the
restrictions however on the 20th of
august 12 days after the closing
ceremony there was almost 26 000
positive cases it was the day with the
highest number of infections since the
pandemic began
[Music]
and some will think well they must have
made a profit right the event was
expected to create two million jobs and
have a positive effect on the japanese
economy of
128 billion dollars thanks to investment
tourism and increased consumption and
yes many of you will think that these
forecasts are always inflated but the
actual result has been close to zero
they couldn't even sell a single ticket
the big japanese companies didn't make a
profit either they spent a total of 3.6
billion on advertising but the public
was so annoyed that toyota pulled all
this advertising related to the games
despite being a major sponsor of the ioc
[Music]
so of course in the end the legacy of
tokyo 2020 is the bills they've got to
pay and let me remind you of the numbers
28 billion dollars of which 15.4 billion
is simply the cost of organizing the
month-long competition well all but 6.7
billion that is the sum that will come
out of the pockets of the japanese
taxpayer we are talking about billions
that could be used to build 300
hospitals or lower taxes as you can
imagine the unpopularity of the prime
minister has broken new records a man
for whom there will be no more screens
neither 8k nor regular hd
yoshihide sugar to step down as japan's
prime minister with suga out of action
his successor will have to face a
general election before the end of
november now let's see who's going to
tell the japanese that taxes will need
to be raised because japan's debt has
already reached such colossal
proportions that godzilla looks like a
lizard next to it and many of you will
ask yourselves but does this have
consequences for the rest of the world
well yes it does we're going to look at
that
now
the olympic flame goes out
the olympic games are a bit like a
wedding a lot of money wasted to then
enjoy a moment that goes by very quickly
and pro tip don't tell your new wife
that you use the term wasted even so
organizing them is the dream of any
country we here at visualpolitik still
remember when madrid was bidding to host
the olympic games you had to be careful
about saying that you were against it
because everyone would go for your
jugular in the end madrid lost to tokyo
but it left some spaniards with some
great memories with their impeccable
english then mayor rest of madrid then
tried to persuade the olympic
international committee look what a
wonderful job she did
and i assure you
no one celebrates life like spanish
people do
there is nothing quite like a
relaxing cup of cafe con leche
in plaza mayor
or a queen romantic dinner in el madrid
los austrias
many of you may have been wondering what
i have against the olympic games let's
see regardless of the money involved the
worst thing is having to win over the
ioc members the international olympic
committee is one of the organizations
that gets the best treatment in the
world every time they visit a candidate
city they get the luxury treatment and
as it's been revealed on several
occasions the beds they provided are not
exactly made of cardboard
the ioc expelled several members for
corruption in the late 1990s they had
been bought off in order to bring the
2002 olympics games to salt lake city
but this was not an isolated case the
capital of utah had adopted this
strategy after losing to nagano in 98.
the japanese contenders had given away
computers while the mormon city handed
out candy and cowboy hats it was also
revealed that several ioc members had
asked melbourne's 1996 bid for new cars
and paid expenses at the australian
city's best brothels melbourne declined
and the games were held in atlanta as i
said before ioc members do not sleep in
cardboard beds
[Music]
it is clear that there is a certain
understanding amongst most athletes in
the olympic village but it seems the
olympic committee members need some
pro-convincing and with the local
delegates so that they have no doubt
about whether the games should be held
the problem is that people have already
gotten used to the games being
underperformers the economic failures of
rio or tokyo are notorious and the
television audiences continue to fall
that's why there is less and less
interest in organizing the olympic mega
event and ioc members are getting tired
of seeing news stories like this
hamburg votes no in 2024 olympics
referendum
rome olympics 2024 mayor raghi says no
the yes vote to the candidacy is
irresponsible the ioc suddenly found
itself with only two bids to host the
2024 games paris and los angeles given
such an outlook it opted for a solomonic
decision paris 2024 and los angeles 2028
so it's clear that something is changing
in the olympic world they've gone from
having several candidacies fighting for
the favor of the ioc to seeing how
candidacies are presented practically in
secret it's almost as if the ioc is
going around the world begging hey hey
how about letting us hold the games in
your city please and without the
banquets we have found that we already
have a venue for the 2032 games there
isn't actually a rival but still look at
the theatrics they may give it some buzz
the international olympic committee
has the honor to announce
that the games of the 35th olympiad
i awarded to
brisbane australia
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two things are clear to me right now one
is that ninety percent of you just found
out about brisbane the other is that in
order to see who gets to host the games
the ioc watched the video we did on why
australia is rich in 11 years time when
those games come around i'm sure you
remember visualpolitik but in the
meantime the question is over to you do
you think the tokyo games will be
remembered as a symbol of achievement or
as a catastrophe will we have the games
for a long time or is the olympic flame
in danger of being extinguished for good
and most importantly what would you
offer to the ioc for your city to host
the olympic games keep it pg we want to
know about possible bids so you can
leave your answers in the comments below
and as always don't forget that we have
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know by liking it and we'll see you next
time
[Music]
you