Opposition in Japan to the Olympics during the COVID-19 pandemic | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

In this study, the factors that influence the attitude toward hosting the Olympics were clarified. In particular, factors that have a negative effect—perception of high cost, high risk of infectious diseases, and concern about the burden on medical institutions—as well as a positive effect—perception of COVID-19 countermeasures, economic effects, and athletes—were examined.

The factor with the greatest influence was F4_MedicalFacility, with an odds ratio of 20.728. Thus, it is possible to conclude that respondents felt that the potential collapse of the healthcare system if the Olympics proved to be a super-spreader event was reason enough to oppose the event. Respondents who were asked about their negative attitudes expressed stronger negative effects than those who made direct statements about infection. Regarding factors of infection, it was also found that the odds ratio with F3_Movement was as high as F2_Infection.

In contrast, F1_Cost had no significant effects. The cost of hosting the Olympics continues to rise, and the event has been criticized for putting cities at great risk (Asahi, 2020; Bason and Grix, 2018). The issue of the Olympics’ increasingly luxurious budget has been a sore point among critics for a long. For example, as shown in Fig. 2, the new national stadium for the Olympics came under criticism by citizens, which forced the organizers to simplify the design (Guardian, 2015). The added burden of ensuring COVID-19 countermeasures has also increased the cost of hosting the event (Boykoff and Gaffney, 2020; Lies, 2021). However, the results herein show that cost is not a major factor in the negative attitude toward the Olympics; instead, the effect of medical treatment and infection was found to be stronger. Sato et al. (2020) show that public opinion about the Olympics is mixed; some citizens feel that the event should continue, given the large upfront investments already made. Thus the “pros” and “cons” of hosting the event may have cancelled out.

Fig. 2

Initial design proposal (upper) and construction after design change (lower) at the national stadium (Japan Times, 2015).

Full size image

Another positive and significant factor was the economic effect. Most discussions on the economic benefits of the Olympics take a professional economic perspective (Hoang et al. 2020; Chong and Hui, 2013; Ferreira, 1998; Prayag et al. 2013; Rose and Spiegel, 2011; Vierhaus, 2019). The results of this study confirm that even citizens tend to have a positive attitude toward the Olympics in this regard. Although many reports exist on the adverse side effects of vaccines (Asahi, 2021; Blum, 2021; Reed, 2021), about 90% of citizens in Japan want vaccination (Japan Times, 2021). Hence, the perception of COVID-19 countermeasures, such as vaccination, has normally a positive effect.

For the attributes of citizens, it was found that women are more likely to oppose the event than men, while those with more children were more likely to support the event. This result was gleaned from the reason for the attitude, that is, “I want to show my children the Olympics held in our country, which is likely to never happen again in their life.” Basically, the factor of family composition is considered to have a greater influence than that of age group. Among the psychological factors, ExcessiveInformation shows a negative effect; that is, those who feel that the media coverage of COVID-19 is excessive are likely to support the event. It is already known that the media influences the attitude and changes in attitude of citizens (Lu et al., 2019). However, it is presumed that consumers were not affected as the media expected—which was to over-incite anxiety—and that they adopted a negative view of the attitude of the media. In addition, the variable Prediction showed a positive and significant result against opposition to the event, and it was found that respondents with an already-pessimistic outlook of the pandemic tended to oppose the Olympics. As shown in Fig. 3, the data of all 800 respondents show that as many as 36.5% of the respondents believed the pandemic would “never end.”

Fig. 3

Attitude toward the Olympics by the answer of the expected period until the end of COVID-19.

Full size image

As noted previously, the factors that influence the support or opposition to the Olympics have never been clarified from the perspective of citizens. This lack of data manifests as a limitation in the strategic planning of governments and municipalities, which often prioritizes “experts” over “laypeople.”

The verification presented in this study confirmed all but one hypothesis, namely, the perception of high cost. These results help us understand the attitudes of citizens toward the target event, the corresponding factors, and the importance of formulating an appropriate communication strategy. If these aspects are neglected, it is possible that the benefits of hosting the Olympics would be reduced. National and local governments must remember that collaboration with citizens is essential for the success of place branding.