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Makoto Yokohari, a professor of urban engineering at the University of Tokyo, expressing concern about the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which will be held during the country's notoriously sweltering summer. He feels that many Tokyoites do not have a sense of urgency that heat conditions will make it difficult for marathon runners and heighten the danger of heatstroke, particularly among spectators unused to hot weather who will spend hours outdoors watching events or queuing.
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quote of the day
Tokyo residents may say 'Oh we know and are used to the heat'... but how many of us in Tokyo spend hours outdoors in the peak of August heat?
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thepersoniamnow
Why should a Tokyo-tie have this “sense of urgency” about it? Apparently the Olympic committee lied about the weather in Japan. They also set the dates and make all the money!
ADK99
I predict that the biggest issue will be with the volunteers. Athletes have time to train, acclimatize and moderate their performance to fit the conditions. Spectators have the option of going home. Volunteers, I suspect, will have that "gaman" sense of duty.
I know 4 people who have signed up already, and they are all aged around 70 already. It's likely that a large proportion of the volunteers will be retirees, and it's also likely that a large amount of the volunteering will involve standing outside. This needs to be managed extremely carefully or there will be a body count.
rainyday
It would be really great if this concern with the heat applied not just to visitors and athletes here for the Olympics but also to regular people who live here all the time.
Some of the policies being put forward have a decidedly short term feel to them, like spraying mist from hoses which is OK for very localized areas where you have dense crowds (like the line to enter a stadium) but is going to be useless for the rest of the city since it can't be done at scale.
Providing more shade on the sidewalks and streets city wide (and in other urban areas) is an absolute must. These heat waves are expected to become worse in the years to come.
katsu78
That Olympic committee won't be tasked with picking bodies off the asphalt or admitting them to hospital emergency rooms. They won't suffer if Japan develops a reputation for having an inhospitable climate and tourism revenue falls.
It's all well and good to lay the blame with people who actually created the problem, but at the end of the day someone has to roll up their sleeves and actually, you know, solve it.