2020 Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until summer 2021

Event was to be a major showcase for Japan's corporate titans

Today's expression: Call off
April 13, 2020:

#Tokyo2020 will now officially start in 2021. The Olympics are a big deal for any host nation, but Japan in particular invested more money, more hope, and more civic pride into these Olympics than the typical host country does. Everything from the state-of-the-art stadiums to the customized manhole covers will be left unused or unappreciated until summer 2021. Plus, learn the phrasal verb “call off.”

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The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will begin on July 23. That’s July 23, 2021.

Hi there, welcome to another Plain English lesson—this time number 250. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and like always, the full lesson can be found at PlainEnglish.com/250.

Coming up today: In a blow to Japan’s civic pride, the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed. Japan, and especially its largest corporations, had been looking forward to the opportunity to re-introduce themselves on the world stage after a long economic slump. But their moment to shine will have to wait, as the Games have been postponed for the first time in their history. Later on in this lesson, we’ll talk about the English phrasal verb “call off.” The video lesson online talks about how to show cause and effect with “due to.” And we have a quote of the week, as well. This one is about sleep.

Tokyo’s Olympic dreams postponed

The Olympics are postponed. It was inevitable, but that doesn’t lessen the sting for Tokyo, which has had to call off its second Olympics in three attempts.

This was going to be a big moment for Japan, Inc. Hosting the Olympics is a big deal for any nation, but Japan in particular invested more money, more hope, and more civic pride in these Olympics than the typical host country does.

To understand how important these Olympics are, it’s useful to look back at the last 30 years. Japan was flying high in the late 1980s, with corporate titans like Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi in carmaking and Sony and Panasonic in electronics dominating the world in their respective markets, based on high-quality, affordable manufacturing. At their peak, Japanese carmakers owned a third of the American auto market. Americans and Europeans fell in love with home electronics, scooping up VCR’s, cameras, camcorders, televisions, and stereo systems. The house I grew up in was no exception. We had Honda cars in the garage, Sony electronics in the living room, and Canon cameras in our suitcases.

Then came a crash. The Japanese stock market and real estate markets crashed in 1991 and 1992, leading to a prolonged economic slump in the 1990s—a slump so deep that it became known as the “Lost Decade.” As the calendar flipped into the 2010s, the Lost Decade had lasted twenty years; Japan’s electronics industry has been eclipsed by that of nearby South Korea during the smartphone boom. New smartphones and TV’s around the world are more likely to be made by Samsung and LG. A devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011 led to a nuclear accident, which was a blow to Japan’s national pride.

Japan has clawed back a lot of its lost ground, economically. The Tokyo Olympics were supposed to be a moment in which Japan’s corporate titans reasserted themselves on the global stage. Japan’s carmakers are investing in self-driving and electric technology. Japanese design is back in fashion. After years of cheap technology and ever cheaper clothes from lower-cost parts of Asia, the world is beginning to appreciate the higher quality represented by Japanese brands and the Marie Kondo ethos of deriving joy from things around you. SoftBank, a financial heavyweight, is investing in cutting-edge startups around the world. The Olympics’ 47 corporate sponsors had been counting on the attention to show the world how forward-looking they are.

Japan built a state-of-the-art new stadium for the games. Toyota was planning to light the Olympic flame with a flying car. Toto was going to impress Western visitors with the luxurious heated toilets installed in the new high-end hotels built just for Olympic visitors. The government of Japan designed an all-new taxi to ferry foreigners around town. The JPN Taxi—made by Toyota, of course—looks like a cross between a Land Rover and a traditional London taxi, painted a Japanese indigo. Pedestrians would marvel at the artistic manhole covers designed specifically for these games.

Instead, come July, the stadium will be dark, the hotels empty, the taxis idled, the manhole covers unappreciated. The Olympic flame, which travels the world on its way to the opening ceremonies in the year leading up to the Games, was stuck in Fukushima—ironically the site of the nuclear meltdown in 2011. The countdown clock outside Tokyo Station was frozen; stunned tourists took pictures of the stalled countdown clock. Eighty thousand people who had plans to volunteer will have to reschedule their trips for next year.

This is the second time Tokyo has had to call off the Olympics. The first was in 1940. Those games had been moved to Helsinki, before being canceled altogether. These Olympics have been postponed a year. Japan is putting a brave face on it: rather than renaming the Games, they will have the 2020 Olympics in 2021. People are disappointed but resolved to make the Games a success next year. The countdown clock outside Tokyo station has been reset.

Japanese electronics and cars

Oh boy, this lesson was a stroll down my consumerist memory lane. I mentioned that Japan dominated home electronics and one of the examples I gave was VCRs. A VCR, for those of you who are younger than, say, 30, was the thing that came before a DVD player. And a DVD player, some of you may not know, was the thing that came before streaming! Sony invented the VCR, I think. In fact, so much of Japan’s electronics industry dominance came from Japanese companies inventing the format. The first camcorder was a Sony, I think, too. The Sony Walkman—do you remember those? It was the world’s first portable, individual music player. I had a Sony Walkman until probably 2005 when I got my first iPod.

Now I’m looking around and I don’t see a lot of Japanese brands in my house. My TV is a Samsung. My computer and accessories are American companies—Dell, HP, Logitech, Anker. Phone from Apple, speakers from an American company—all assembled in China.

One thing that hasn’t changed in my lifetime: the reliability of Japanese cars. My first car, a Toyota, lasted 15 years and my current Mazda runs like a charm. Maybe my next car will be a flying Toyota, who knows?

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Expression: Call off