NAGOYA – The first Summer Asian Games held in Japan in over three decades left behind questions of its legacy.
The 16 days of sport, mainly held in Aichi Prefecture through Sunday, featured venues full of cheering crowds and scenes of excitement shared by a wide range of people, a sharp contrast to the spectatorless Tokyo Olympics in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Asian Games brought together over 15,000 members of delegations from 45 countries and regions. Japan rewrote its record high for both total medals and gold medals in the quadrennial sporting tournament, sweeping up 269 medals, including 83 golds.
Japan left behind valuable memories for people in the country. Spectators witnessed high-level performances by athletes and were introduced to Asia’s vast array of cultures. People also had the chance to see athletes at public events celebrating the medalists.
The 2021 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo had 1,423.8 billion yen in costs. The budget for the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games totaled 298 billion yen, despite having more sports and participating athletes than the worldwide sporting festival.
The latest Asian Games aimed to create a sustainable event that was simple yet smoothly operated. The organizing committee decided not to build a new athletes’ village, while opting to host individual sporting events at existing venues in five Japanese prefectures, including Tokyo.
The massive sporting event, however, was not without hiccups, especially in operations.
The event was hosted without a major advertising agency taking charge of daily operations, which was unusual for a major international tournament in Japan.
Without the know-how of such a company, many staff members on the organizer’s side were inexperienced. “There were operational difficulties from the very start,” a senior official of the organizing committee said.
An event planning company responsible for venue operations failed to submit venue diagrams on time, according to a person familiar with the matter. “There was a lack of information sharing,” the person said.
The person said preparations dragged on until just before the opening ceremony because expense calculations and venue-related planning were delayed. Issues also plagued the tournament after competition began.
North Korea’s national anthem was played instead of South Korea’s anthem at a men’s hockey match against Bangladesh on Sept. 18, while a bus did not arrive to take the South Korean men’s basketball team to a practice session before the final against Japan on Sept. 20. The organizing committee spent a busy period apologizing and explaining these blunders.
While the committee had touted strong ticket sales, many spectator seats were empty at some venues. The committee also learned valuable lessons from its delayed responses to inaccurate posts being spread on social media.
The committee acted quickly on some issues. An official of the committee said that it had provided round-the-clock support to tackle reports of water leaks, clogged drains and other issues by people staying at container houses serving as accommodation for athletes. On transportation issues, the committee switched to a booking system that did not accept late bus reservations after a predetermined deadline.
Junichi Kawai, commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency who has plenty of experience competing at international tournaments as a six-time Paralympian with 21 Paralympic medals in swimming under his belt, said, “We always have issues” at any big tournament. “We’ve resolved them.”
The Japanese government plans to put together the country’s accumulated know-how on running a massive sporting tournament, and pass such lessons on to future generations.
Japan’s basic law on sports, revised last year, stipulates that efforts securing the transparency of tournament operations and nurturing personnel are state-led measures. As part of the effort, the Asian Games organizing committee needs to leave behind reports and people with related knowledge and experience.
In terms of revenues, the tournament’s sponsorship income reached 27 billion yen, exceeding the organizing committee’s goal.
The legacy of the latest Asian Games is the method of cutting down on expenses by utilizing container hotels and cruise ships in place of a dedicated athletes’ village, as well as ways to deal with challenges involving the transportation of athletes.
Such a legacy will be very important given that Japan may host another massive sporting tournament, including possibly another Olympic Games, in the future. A committee was launched in September to submit a bid to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup. (Jiji Press)
The Japanese flag is raised at the closing ceremony of the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Sept. 4, 2026.
