Tokyo’s Hope for Improvements by 2020 Olympics · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

A poster advertisement in Shibuya, Tokyo. Image by Danny Choo on flickr under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
On 7 September 2013, Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics after the members of International Olympic Committee voted to select the host city from Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul.
As Tokyo celebrates its win, opinion leaders on Twitter are sharing their hopes for improvements in the city.
Nobuyuki Sato, a communications director and author of a dozen books who has more than 70,000 followers, emphasized the bright side of hosting the Olympics/Paralympics:
期限と達成目標は日本人を必ず団結させ強くする。東京でのオリンピック/パラリンピックは東北の復興を必ずや加速させると思うし、抱えている様々な問題も良い方に向かわせると信じます。後ろ向きな言葉はいくらでも言える。心配事も山ほどある。でももう決まったんだし、一緒にがんばりましょう。
— さとなお (@satonao310) September 7, 2013
Having common deadline and goal will unite and strengthen Japanese. I think that hosting Olympics/Paralympics in Tokyo will accelerate the recovery of  disaster-stricken Tohoku regions, and various issues at hand will get better. At the same time, there are negative words and plenty of worrying matters, yet it's been decided. Let's together work to do our best.
Social analytics show that online conversations on Olympics suddenly exploded among Japanese, while conversations on Paralympics also increased but were relatively smaller in number.
Although it's smaller in number, people voiced their hope for a more accessible city resulting from Tokyo being named as 2020 Olympics/Paralympics host.
The blue dots represent Japanese tweets that include “Olympics” which show rapid increase on 7 September. The green represents “Paralympics” and orange represents “barrier free” [universal design] in Japanese. Social analytics based on TOPSY.com
German literature translator and peace advocate Kayoko Ikeda, who resides in Tokyo, listed her wishes:
A graph of tweets that include “バリアフリー” a Japanese word for “barrier-free” [universal design] from August 9th to September 8th. Online conversations that seek a more accessible, universally designed city increase as Tokyo is awarded 2020 Olympics host.
７年後、町中がバリアフリーになり、Wi-Fiがどこでも繋がり、電柱がなくなり、羽田成田東京がもっと近くなり、築地市場に外国の人の笑顔があふれ、ヘイトスピーチはとっくに影をひそめ、津波被災地域が立ち上がり、原発事故処理は着々と進み、原発が動いてなくて、再エネに切り替わってたらいいな
— 池田香代子 (@ikeda_kayoko) September 7, 2013
I really wish that after seven years: every corner in Tokyo implements universal design [barrier-free, accessible for all people]; ubiquitous WiFi connection, and telegraph poles vanish; Tsukiji market [the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world] is filled with smiles by foreigners visiting from around the world; Tokyo, Haneda and Narita airport become more accessible; hate speech vanishes; tsunami-stricken regions recover; the nuclear power plant accident is fully handled; and no nuke plant is online and we switch to renewable energy.
Game designer and translator Shin Okada also voiced his hope for more accessibility for the aging society:
オリンピックもそうなんですがパラリンピックが開催されるということで街や交通機関のいっそうのバリアフリー化とかそういう方向でも盛り上がってほしいな。うちの母とかもう八十台半ばになっちゃうので、足腰の不自由なお年寄りでも気軽に会場に見に行けるようにしておいてほしい
— 岡田伸 (@AsobininNoShin) September 7, 2013
By hosting the Olympics and Paralympics, I hope that the city and public transportation will improve accessibility of its facilities, towards universal design. My mom will be in her mid-eighties in 2020, so I sincerely hope that facilities are fully accessible for elderly with walking difficulty.