THE OLYMPIC GAMES AS A SOFT POWER OF JAPANESE DIPLOMACY

No international competition is more subject to such politicization than the Olympic Games. The present study is intended to explore the hosting of the Olympics as a “soft power” tool of Japan s public diplomacy. In this context, it might be useful to view the hosting of the Olympics as a highly important event for foreign affairs. The Olympic Games are, in fact, so potent as a political symbol that the host government was unable to maintain control over their impact. The substantial investment of governmental prestige in the success of the Olympics created in Japan a pressure on the government itself to sustain the national pride that is so much a part of hosting the games. As such, the act of hosting the Olympics involves not only a set of potentially attractive opportunities, but a set of political risks as well.