Deep Dive from The Japan Times

From the opening ceremony to Naomi Osaka and Simon Biles' shock exits, it's been a busy week at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Read more:  Biracial representation, game soundtracks and shiny pecs: bright moments at a somber Olympic opening (Patrick St. Michel, The Japan Times) The Japan Times' coverage of the Olympic Games Osaka exits Games as Tokyo hits record coronavirus cases (The Japan Times) U.S. gymnast Simone Biles out of next Tokyo event, sharpening focus on mental health at Games (The Japan Times)  Japanese surfer Kanoa Igarashi earns silver as Amuro Tsuzuki takes bronze on stormy day in Chiba (Oscar Boyd, The Japan Times) On this episode: Patrick St. Michel: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Subscribe to the show and sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list to be notified when we return. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you’ve enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times.

In Part 2 of this two-part look at the long and tumultuous road to the Olympics, we discuss heat, corruption and the endless run of scandals that followed when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a one-year postponement of the Games. Read/see more:  Twists and turns: Retracing Tokyo’s tumultuous path to the Olympics (Alex K.T. Martin, The Japan Times) Heat risks add to challenges for Tokyo's pandemic-hit Olympics (Oscar Boyd, The Japan Times) The Olympic opening ceremony that wasn’t (Patrick St. Michel, The Japan Times) The sexism scandal engulfing the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (Deep Dive) Keigo Oyamada quits Olympic opening ceremony role over past bullying (The Japan Times) Director of Olympics opening ceremony ousted over past comments on Holocaust (The Japan Times) More companies pull out of Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony (The Japan Times) The Japan Times' coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (The Japan Times) On this episode: Patrick St. Michel: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Subscribe to the show and sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list to be notified when we return. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you’ve enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: People protest against the Tokyo Olympic Games outside the Akasaka State Guest House, where International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach attended a welcome ceremony on Sunday. | REUTERS

This week, the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics will begin, with the opening ceremony planned for Friday, July 23. It will be a Games like none before it, with its host city, Tokyo, under a state of emergency and COVID-19 still very much a threat to the public. In Part 1 of a two-part look at the long and tumultuous road to the Olympics, we look at Tokyo's initial bid for the Olympics in 2011, how the city won that bid in 2013, and the ups and downs that accompanied the Games until the famous handover ceremony at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Part 2 will follow on Friday, ahead of the opening ceremony. Read/see more:  Twists and turns: Retracing Tokyo’s tumultuous path to the Olympics (Alex K.T. Martin, The Japan Times) Tokyo wins bid to host 2020 Olympics (The Japan Times) Tokyo awarded 2020 Summer Games (The Telegraph via YouTube) The Complete Tokyo 1964 Olympics Film (Olympics via YouTube) The handover ceremony at the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony (Olympics via YouTube) The troubled history of Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic stadium project (Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian) Contested Tokyo 2020 Olympic logo scrapped amid plagiarism claim (Shusuke Murai, The Japan Times) The Japan Times' coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (The Japan Times) On this episode: Patrick St. Michel: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Subscribe to the show and sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list to be notified when we return. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you’ve enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: The Olympic rings in Tokyo Bay, Odaiba | Oscar Boyd

Host Oscar Boyd is heading to language school for three months and so Deep Dive will be on hiatus. Make sure you subscribe on whichever podcasting platform you use to be notified when we return.  For all the latest news from Japan, please subscribe to The Japan Times and help support our journalism: the latest on the pandemic, vaccinations, the Olympics, and sports, culture and lifestyle features. Thank you to all our listeners, guests and supporters of the show. Until next time, stay well, and a three-month-long podsukaresama.  Oscar's favorite Japan pods: Japan By River Cruise - A comedy podcast by Bobby Judo and Ollie Horn Uncanny Japan - Tales from the spooky side of Japan by Thersa Matsuura Japan Eats - A podcast all about Japanese food and the people behind it by Akiko Katayama Even more podcasts from Japan

With medical experts worried that the Olympics will turn into a superspreader event, polls show that the Japanese public is overwhelmingly not on board with the Games. Yet things are going full steam ahead, with test events taking place, athletes arriving and the torch relay beginning last week.  Joining Deep Dive is the New York Times Tokyo bureau chief Motoko Rich, here to discuss why the government seems so intent on holding the Games this summer, and the risks associated with them going ahead as planned. Read more:  Why ‘cursed’ Olympics are pressing ahead amid a pandemic (Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida, The New York Times) Experts fear the Olympics could trigger a global superspreader event (The Japan Times) Tokyo Olympic torch relay begins amid COVID-19 fears (The Japan Times) Japanese stars have no burning desire to be involved in torch relay (The Japan Times) 'Unavoidable': Overseas fans barred from Tokyo Olympics over virus (The Japan Times) On this episode: Motoko Rich: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Deep Dive will be going on hiatus for three months until July 2021. Subscribe to the show and sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list to be notified when we return. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you’ve enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: The Olympic rings are reinstalled at Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo on Dec. 1, 2020. | REUTERS

Japan is a country that is good at many things, but accepting refugees is not one of them. In 2019, just 44 refugees were accepted here. Now, the government has proposed a series of amendments to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act that will make it even harder for asylum seekers in Japan. Freelance journalist Jesse Chase-Lubitz joins Deep Dive to discuss. Read more:  Japan mulls closing another door to refugees (Jesse Chase-Lubitz, Foreign Policy) Immigration reform fails to resolve asylum contradictions (Philip Brasor, The Japan Times) Government approves bill to bail asylum-seekers from long-term detention (The Japan Times) Japanese society warms to asylum-seekers despite the government's cold shoulder (Jesse Chase-Lubitz, The Japan Times) Deep Dive Episode 40: An 11-year-long fight for asylum in Japan (Deep Dive podcast) On this episode:  Jesse Chase-Lubitz: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list and be notified every time a new episode comes out. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you've enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: Detainees are seen through a hatch at the Tokyo Detention House in December 2015. | REUTERS

Bloomberg reporter Lisa Du joins Deep Dive to discuss how Japan's vaccine rollout has gone so far, and the challenges the program may face going forward. Read more:  65% see Japan's vaccine rollout as slow, poll finds (The Japan Times) 62.1% of Japanese willing to have COVID-19 vaccination, survey says (The Japan Times) Japan may approve second COVID-19 vaccine in May, health minister says (The Japan Times) Trials and transparency stand in way of Japan's acquisition of non-Western shots (Osamu Tsukimori, The Japan Times) 'Vaccine passports' could help global travel resume. But is Japan on board? (Magdalena Osumi, The Japan Times) EU set to tighten vaccine export rules amid U.K. tensions (Bloomberg) Astra’s pain grows as U.S. questions beleaguered vaccine (Bloomberg) Episode 77: When will Japan get a vaccine for COVID-19? (Deep Dive podcast) On this episode:  Lisa Du: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list and be notified every time a new episode comes out. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you've enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: A medical worker gets a second dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a Tokyo hospital on March 10. | KYODO

Pokemon is thought to be the most valuable media franchise in the world, with an empire that straddles video games, television, cinema, trading cards, Pokemon Go and much, much more. This week on Deep Dive, journalist Tom Bateman takes us through the 25 year history of Pokemon, and how it has become one of Japan’s most successful and recognizable exports. Read more: Monsters, mania and the unstoppable march of Pokemon (Tom Bateman, BBC) Beware of the Pokemania (Time Magazine, 1999) Pokemon still catching hearts as game franchise celebrates 25th anniversary (The Japan Times) On this episode: Tom Bateman: Twitter | Website Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list and be notified every time a new episode comes out. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you've enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: The Pokemon Company

On this week's episode, The Japan Times' Alex Martin visits Ishinomaki, 10 years after he first went there, to reconnect with residents he spoke with in the aftermath of the earthquake and to find out how the city is recovering from the tsunami. Also, Reuters' Mari Saito tells us about the "phone of the wind," where tsunami survivors can grieve for the people they lost. Read more: A decade on, real challenges lie ahead for communities devastated by March 2011 disaster (Alex K.T. Martin, The Japan Times) Photo essay: Tsunami survivors call lost loves on the ‘phone of the wind’ (Mari Saito via The Japan Times) Photo essay: The seawalls of Tohoku (Oscar Boyd, The Japan Times) The Japan Times' coverage of the 10th anniversary of 3/11 On this episode: Alex K.T. Martin: Twitter | Articles Mari Saito: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list and be notified every time a new episode comes out. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you've enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: A man surveys the damage in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, a few days after the city was struck by a deadly tsunami in March 2011. | KYODO

Richard Lloyd Parry is the author of "Ghosts of the Tsunami," which focuses on the story of a small elementary school in the town of Okawa, around 200 miles north of Tokyo. 74 pupils and 10 teachers at the school that day lost their lives to the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake.  "Ghosts of the Tsunami" is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about the disaster: a beautifully written, harrowing account of what happened on 3/11 and the events that unfolded afterward, as it became clear to survivors that the deaths of those children were entirely avoidable. Read more:  Ghosts of the Tsunami book (Richard Lloyd Parry, Macmillan) Ghosts of the Tsunami essay (Richard Lloyd Parry, London Review of Books) The school beneath the wave: the unimaginable tragedy of Japan’s tsunami (Richard Lloyd Parry, The Guardian) Tsunami-hit Miyagi school building to reopen as memorial in April (The Japan Times) Japan's top court finalizes ¥1.44 billion in damages for 84 deaths at school in 3/11 tsunami (The Japan Times) On this episode: Richard Lloyd Parry: Twitter | Articles Oscar Boyd: Twitter | Articles | Instagram Announcements: Sign up to the Deep Dive mailing list and be notified every time a new episode comes out. Get in touch with us at deepdive@japantimes.co.jp. Support the show! Rate us, review us and share this episode with a friend if you've enjoyed it. Follow us on Twitter, and give us feedback. This episode of Deep Dive may be supported by advertising based on your location. Advertising is sourced by Audioboom and is not affiliated with The Japan Times. Photo: A mural at the Okawa Elementary School, where 74 children died on March 11, 2011. | Oscar Boyd