Roy Tomizawa June 12, 2016 Environment, Field Hockey, Field Sports, Tokyo 1964, Volleyball, Wrestling

Komazawa Olympic Park: A Living, Breathing Legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

Komazawa Olympic Park venues 2 — Komazawa Olympic venues in 1964, from the book, The Games of the XVIII Olympiad Tokyo 1964

Are the Olympics a worthy investment? Does the investment create legacies for the host country?

The answer to those questions are often “no”, unfortunately, at least in terms of the billions spent on structures like stadiums and other various sports venues.

Many of the structures built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics still exist, like the Nippon Budokan, the National Gymnasium and Annex, as well as the Komazawa Olympic Park venues. Not only that, they live and breathe. Click below on the video to see and hear what I did.

On Sunday, May 1, during the long break in Japan known as Golden Week, I took a short bicycle ride to Komazawa Olympic Park, and walk where 1964 Olympians walked. The Park is a collection of venues: Komazawa Gymnasium where Japan won 5 of 16 total gold medals just in wrestling, Komazawa Hockey Field where India beat Pakistan in a memorable finals between two field hockey blood rivals, Komazawa Stadium where soccer preliminary matches were played, and Komazawa Volleyball Courts where Japan’s famed women’s volleyball team mowed through the competition until they won gold at a different venue.

On that day, thousands of people were enjoying unseasonably warm weather under clear, blue skies. The tracks around the park were filled with runners. The gymnasium was hosting a local table tennis tournament, and the stadium was prepping for the third day of the four-day Tokyo U-14 International Youth Football Tournament.

Komazawa 3

In the plaza between the various Komazawa venues, hundreds were enjoying the weather with great food and drink. I was pleasantly surprised to find draft Seattle Pike IPA. While enjoying the cold beer on the hot day, surrounded by hundreds of people loving the day, I realized that Japan in the 1960s made great decisions in planning for the 1964 Olympics. I had a similar revelation earlier when I visited the National Gymnasium months earlier. So much of what was built for those Summer Games are a part of the everyday life of the Japanese.

Japan built a fantastic legacy for 1964. What legacy will Japan begin in 2020?

Komazawa 6

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1

jiisand on June 12, 2016 at 1:18 pm
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Admittedly the amount of interest and energy and finance and direction of the lives of both spectators and participants of world sports lies outside my own major fascinations in life. But the intensity of humans throughout the ages to excel in one manner or another is, after all, what forms the force to create something new and unusual and that, in itself creates a meaningful pattern of endeavor,

The coming Olympic events in both Brazil and Tokyo are, unfortunately, rather dangerous for the rest of humanity. In Brazil the newly discovered disease of Zika affecting unborn children which has already spread somewhat outside of Brazil presents a huge danger since it is so new, so infectious and, as yet, out of control. The Brazil Olympics, as all such events, is a tremendous financial investment and carries with it a heavy load of world reputation to attract as many visitors as possible to make the event worthwhile. This unfamiliar disease could become an immense world plague if the concentration of visitors carries it back to their home countries.

Likewise, in Japan, the Fukushima catastrophe remains, not only out of control but no means of mitigating the horrendous meltdown of many tons of radioactive core material has yet arrived. The Japanese government has made it illegal to speak openly of the obvious dangers or permit neutral experts on radioactive dangers to deeply study possibilities of protection and control. Individuals are prevented from examining food grown in the affected areas with geiger counters and the world standards of levels of permitted exposure to radioactivity have already been dangerously violated since there is no way to protect against it. Again, it is the expense of the coming Olympic event and the world reputation of Japan which is at stake but the potential harm for the huge number of visitors, not to speak of the Japanese themselves, in exposure to a dangerous and uncontrolled situation is frightening. These examples of what can only be termed criminal neglect on major world events are not only unnecessary, they speak openly of the rather odd and cruel objectives of humanity itself.

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  Roytomi on June 14, 2016 at 5:12 am
  Reply
  
  Thank you for your thoughtful response. There is always risk, particularly in the intricately complex and global world we live in today. In the case of Japan, transparency is key. I believe that we have a better understanding of radioactivity levels than ever before and concerns have generally dropped. But the fact of the matter is, long-term effects are unclear…always unclear.
  
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melvlee on May 20, 2017 at 5:20 pm
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I just came across your blog; great work! Komazawa is a bit out of the way and I wanted for a long time to visit the Olympic Park during the 5 years that I worked in Japan. I did finally find the time to go, and like you, was so pleased to see it had become well used and a part of everyday life with the running track full of greenery, the activity-filled plaza as well as the gymnasium and so on. The distinctive 1960’s style of design of the stadium and the tower and even the stone paving of the plaza have stood up well over the years. As for the Yoyogi gymnasiums, I take a stroll past them every time I visit Tokyo and it’s so great to see them heavily used for concerts and sports events. It’s a thrill to see their iconic roofs every single time. I also do wonder if the 2020 Olympics will be able to yield similarly loved places.

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  Roy Tomizawa on May 20, 2017 at 5:33 pm
  Reply
  
  Thank you for that! Yes, It’s a wonderful park. I hope to visit again soon!
  
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