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.