Tokyo Was Promised Glory and Riches. It Got an Olympics in a Bubble.

The Games failed to live up to their economic promise and cast a harsh light on Japan’s political culture. Some feel “a hunger for a new system.”

TOKYO — Tokyo’s leaders promised glory and riches when the Japanese capital won its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Jobs and the economy would grow. The public would rally in support. Japan’s international stature would rise. The Olympics are set to close on Sunday, a year later than planned and far off the script the organizers described when they won the Games in 2013. The coronavirus forced the organizers to put the Games inside an anti-coronavirus bubble, all but eliminating any economic or even spiritual upside for Tokyo. Instead, the city has been reduced to a mere vessel for a mega-event that has demanded much but provided little in return. Even after spending many billions of dollars, Tokyo experienced the Games much like any other city: as an event on television.