How will the Olympic & Paralympic Games of Tokyo 2020 influence Japanese sport and society? To consider this question, it is necessary to understand the historical development of Japanese sport policy and the relation of Japanese sport with society from a comparison with European sport policy. Japan has also been suffering from the consciousness of “being behind” Europe and America concerning policies for modernization. In the process of constructing modern society, the leisure class model of purely enjoying sport has not been developed in Japan. From this historical background of sport in Japan, questions about the Tokyo Games 2020 and about agendas of sport policy for the time after the Games come up. In October 2015 the “Sports Agency” was founded as an administrative organization attached to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology, but as sport in Japan has mainly be seen as a tool for education until now, the big task will be how to build up this organization based on the concept of “sport”, namely “sport for the society” with its diverse social functions.

Koichi KIKU is professor in the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba. He serves as President to both the Japan Society of Sport Sociology (JSSS) and the Sociological Field in the Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences (JSPEHSS). He has published widely on sport policy, sport and violence, and bushido. One of his publications includes The Theory of Sport Policy in Japan