Trash Islands:The Olympic Games and Japan’s Changing Environment Speaker: Robin Kietlinski, Associate Professor of History at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York

1. Trash Islands:
The Olympic Games
and Japan’s Changing
Environment
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY JAPAN
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019
ROBIN KIETLINSKI, PH.D.
CUNY – LAGUARDIA CC 2018 AAS Annual Meeting / Washington D.C.

2. From Edo, the City that Became Tokyo: An
Illustrated History, by Naito and Hozumi

3. From Edo, the City that Became Tokyo: An
Illustrated History, by Naito and Hozumi

5. Photos from 1955

6. Tokyo Bay 1956

7. 1590 1850

8. 1869

9. 1921

10. 1935
1950
1960
1970
Images from 東京湾史

12. Tokyo Bay Timelapse (from Minatorie Tokyo Port Museum)

13. Morning Sea at Omori, Kiyochika,1880

14. Tokyo Bay today

16. 16 Venues in Tokyo Bay
1. Ariake Arena (volleyball)
2. Gymnastics center
3. BMX course
4. Ariake Tennis Park
5. Odaiba Marine Park (marathon
swim)
6. Shiokaze Park (beach volleyball)
7. Aomi Urban Sports Venue (3x3
basketball and climbing)
8. Seaside Park (field hockey)
9. Sea Forest Waterway (canoe/kayak
sprint)
10. Sea Forest Cross Country Course
(equestrian eventing)
11. Canoe Slalom Course
12. Yumenoshima Archery Field
13. Olympics Aquatic Center
(swimming, diving, artistic
swimming)
14. Tatsumi Swimming Center (water
polo)
15. Makuhari Messe Hall A
(taekwondo, wrestling)
16. Makuhari Messe Hall B (fencing)

17. Central Question:
Are rhetorical efforts highlighting Japan’s cutting-edge sustainability
measures useful and constructive, or are they distractions from serious
damage that large-scale Olympic land reclamation projects might have on
the 30+ million inhabitants of Tokyo?
Three main topics:
1. Japan and the Olympics
2. The Olympics and the environment
3. Tokyo’s land reclamation projects (“trash islands”)

18. Japan and the Olympics
1896: First Modern Olympic Games
1909: First Japanese (and non-European/American) member of the
IOC (Kanō Jigorō)
1912: First Japanese male participants in the Olympics
1928: First Japanese female participant in the Olympics
1936: Japan is the first Asian country to win the bid to host Olympics
1964: Japan is the first Asian country to host the Summer Olympics
1972: Japan is the first Asian country to host the Winter Olympics

19. Berlin 1936
Triple jump medal podium:
Jesse Owens (gold)
Luz Long (silver)
Tajima Naoto (bronze)

20. Japan’s Bids to Host the Games
Tokyo 1940 (Summer-cancelled)
Sapporo 1940 (Winter-cancelled)
Tokyo 1960 (Summer)
Tokyo 1964 (Summer)
Sapporo 1968 (Winter)
Sapporo 1972 (Winter)
Sapporo1984 (Winter)
Nagoya 1988 (Summer)
Nagano 1998 (Winter)
Osaka 2008 (Summer)
Tokyo 2016 (Summer)
Tokyo 2020 (Summer)

21. Green Games
1972 (Sapporo): Minimizing environmental damage first mentioned in IOC rhetoric
1976: Winter Olympics awarded to Denver are relocated to Innsbruck, Austria after
environmentalist-led protest
1990s: IOC forms stronger links with United Nations and after 1992 UN “Earth
Summit,” IOC adopts official sustainability rhetoric
1992: IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch declares his wish to “put the Olympic
Games at the service of the quest for excellence, solidarity, and respect of the
environment. United by and for sport, the Olympic Movement can and must
mobilize itself to make its contribution to the protection of the planet Earth and the
wellbeing of mankind.”

23. Tokyo 1964:
Early environmental concern

24. Improving trash, rivers, and roads

25. Tokyo Monorail, 1964 (Source: Kyodo News)Expressway construction in Tokyo, 1963 (Source: AP)

28. Nihonbashi
◦ 1838 Hiroshige print
◦ 1960
◦ Today

29. Tokyo and Reclaimed Land
Source: TMG Bureau of Ports and Harbors

30. Renderings of the permanent Ariake
Volleyball and Aquatics Centers, and
the “semi-temporary” Ariake
Gymnastics Center

31. Stills from video by the Clean Authority of Tokyo (a Tokyo Metropolitan Government semi-governmental agency managing the
collection and processing of waste from Tokyo’s 23 wards)

34. Toyosu (site of new
Fish Market)

35. Yumenoshima
夢の島
“Dream Island”
Site of Shin-Koto Incineration plant and 2020
Archery and Water Polo venues

36. Yumenoshima
夢の島
1965 1977
1957
Built as a landfill from 1957
Fly and rat infestations in early 1960s
Ministry of Health and Welfare sets goal of
incinerating 75 percent of garbage by 1971

37. 1960s Yumenoshima (from Edo-Tokyo Museum)

39. Harumi Wharf and Chuo
Incineration Plant

42. Tokyo 2020 Sustainability Initiatives
1. Medals made from recycled mobile phone parts
2. Podiums all made from recycled/recovered plastic, then recycled
again for use as packaging
3. Torch bearer uniforms made partly from recycled Coca-Cola bottles
4. Olympic torch made from aluminum waste from temporary housing
used after March 2011 earthquake
5. Olympic Village plaza built from timber donated from across Japan,
and will be re-purposed into public benches across Japan after Games
6. Toyota providing zero-emission vehicles for use during Games
7. Renewable energy used during Olympics (solar, biomass, hydropower)

44. Conclusions/Further Research
Are rhetorical efforts highlighting Japan’s cutting-edge sustainability
measures useful and constructive, or are they distractions from serious
damage that large-scale Olympic land reclamation projects might have on
the 30+ million inhabitants of Tokyo?
Efforts can indeed be useful but deserve careful scrutiny (which the
Olympics can bring)
High environmental standards and economic growth are not incompatible
Tokyo Bay development on reclaimed land deserves careful attention
especially concerning environmental impact and safety

45. Source: Mori Memorial Foundation’s Tokyo in 2030: Living and City-Planning in a Super-Aging Society (2012)