After a one-year delay due to COVID pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics finally opened on July 23 with a muted ceremony in an empty stadium of fewer than 1000 spectators. Against protests by the public and warnings from the medical community while Tokyo’s new virus cases nearly reached 2000 a day, the Japanese government put the capital under state of emergency and pushed forward with the Olympic games as a broadcast-only event with no spectators.

In this Policy Alert (#233, July 26 2021), we briefly examine the Rising Powers’ anticipations of the Tokyo Olympics.

Read the Policy Alert here.