Summary
The selected 2023 article by Jeong and Grix connects Japan’s embracing of sports mega-events (SME) to its political goals of cultural competition with neighboring countries, enhancing regional status, and boosting global visibility. Countries rely on different measures to strengthen their political positions. As Jeong & Grix (2023) highlight, Japan focuses on soft power rather than hard power, using economic sanctions to encourage other nations to pursue Japan’s aims and seek its affirmation. That is why the country hosted SMEs like the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Through these measures, Japan promotes sports diplomacy as a networked, informal form of interaction among actors.
The motives for Japan’s bidding for international sports competitions relate to modernity and global reputation. Jeong and Grix (2023) use qualitative methods of analyzing governmental documents and conducting in-depth interviews with experts. According to their results, the state intends to find global recognition and maintain acceptance in a highly modernized community. Moreover, these competitions took place on Japanese territory after tragic events, such as World War II and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, each time demonstrating Japan’s recovery. Domestic desires aim to establish a homogeneous national identity, meaning that even citizens enjoy internationalization, tourism, and commercial power while promoting their ideology.
Usefulness and Other Article Relation
The article is useful to me because it showcases that SMEs are strategically useful for countries to strengthen their global status. Japan and its neighbors bid for these competitions in South Asia to open up their societies. Now, I recognize soft power’s importance since it can attract millions of spectators to the hosting state and its culture. If I were a member of this community, I would actively contribute to the success of SMEs that increase global power. I also learned that each SME is associated with national prestige and infrastructure development driven by tourism.
Essentially, SMEs are not simply international competitions among amateurs or professional athletes, but rather intangible assets or ideologies that promote the country’s interests.
I can see parallels between the findings of this article and those of other publications on economic growth and urban regeneration, which strengthen the conclusions of those publications, but the article has some limitations. For example, during the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, infrastructure was adjusted to receive thousands of international officials and visitors (Rocha & Cao, 2023).
Similarly, Jeong and Grix (2023) emphasize that when countries host large-scale events on their territory, they allocate tangible and intangible resources to these competitions. However, the selected article shows mainly the positive aspects of SMEs, which contradict Rocha and Cao’s (2023) findings. The latter stated that reconstruction can interfere with small businesses. Therefore, knowing two sides of the coin and comprehending the importance of athletic competitions for the country will be exciting.
References
Jeong, J., & Grix, J. (2023). An analysis of Japan’s soft power strategies through the prism of sports mega-events. Sport in Society, 26(10), 1756–1776.
Rocha, C. M., & Cao, G. (2023). Impacts of urban regeneration on small business in preparation to host The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Sport in Society, 26(6), 985-1002.