A Report on “Host Town” Projects at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Abstract

This paper presents an overall picture of “Host Town” projects conducted for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games based on the analysis of the results of a questionnaire survey of registered municipalities. The Host Town policy recruits local governments from all over Japan to provide pre-games camps for athletes from all over the world to promote international exchanges. According to the 226 questionnaires returned, 60% of respondents indicated that the main purpose of the project was to hold a pre-games camp, and 40% indicated that it was to promote international exchanges. In the business plan for each Host Town project, sports training was planned at 70%, exchange programs through sports at 70%, and welcome parties at 60%. The municipalities covered the travel and lodging expenses of athlete delegations in Japan, half of the municipalities did not make any facility improvements associated with the project, and many did not reallocate staff. Some inconsistencies were identified: Host Town projects were planned around the time when decisions were being made on the eligibility of athletes of the partner country/region to compete, while exchange programs were conducted when the athletes should have been concentrating on the competition.