A boom in sports participation

The ultimate aim is to make sport an integral part of Tokyo life and take that participation rate up to 70 per cent, including the elderly and people with disabilities. This would be among the highest rates in the world.

Sport was a central plank of the City of Tokyo’s efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and featured as one of nine legacy priorities in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s (TMG)  strategy for a Future Tokyo, with urban sports such as skateboarding, sport climbing and 3x3 basketball key to efforts to increase participation.

Steps to drive participation have included taster events, well-publicised sports months, and the promotion of sport in collaboration with local authorities, business and organisations, through initiatives such as the TMG’s Sports Promotion Company Certification System. For example, events held in Tokyo’s business districts encouraged executives with hectic schedules to make time for sport. Companies promoting sport and introducing best practices receive official government certification, while the TMG has set up a website where firms can hire qualified instructors in different sports. And as of 2021, there were 333 TMG-certified companies promoting sporting activities in the Japanese capital. The target is for there to be 1,000 such entities by 2030. For their part, sports clubs and professional teams have made use of Tokyo’s extensive network of sports facilities by laying on introduction sessions to drive participation yet more.

National initiatives include the Tokyo 2020 School Sports Day Project, through which schools across Japan are encouraged to organise activities to inspire children to lead healthy lives, while the “Let’s 55 GoGo” initiative allows people to try their hand at any of the 55 sports that were on the Olympic and Paralympic programmes. Other national programmes have focused on improving the health and fitness of people both young and old, making use of dance and muscle-strengthening activities to achieve this goal.

Junior athletics has also received a boost thanks to Tokyo 2020. The TMG has played its part in the search for the next generation of top-level athletes, discovering and nurturing junior athletes at a local level and organising sports classes and competitions to identify outstanding talent. In total, it has supported 1,034 young athletes across the 31 Olympic sports and has also set up a website allowing them to find qualified instructors. 

The aim is to help them develop and reach the top in their respective sports, while also creating a virtuous cycle in which athletes help at grassroots level, bringing on future talent and making sport a part of people’s everyday lives.

Tokyo residents wanting to be healthy or try new sports have no shortage of facilities to choose from. In addition to the showpiece venues – both new and refurbished – nearly 2,000 local sports facilities, ranging from green spaces to swimming pools, are also open. Some JPY 7 billion – more than USD 50 million – was invested in the six years leading up to the Games in 248 projects across 48 municipalities. Sports facilities at 25 schools have also been opened for public use.