Nation Branding, Country Image, and the Scope of Sport-Tech Diplomacy: Lessons from the Case of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Abstract

This case study explores the scope of sport-tech diplomacy through the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The study discusses the research question: How do the intersections between sports, technology and diplomacy manifest through the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games? Tokyo 2020 was originally designed to help with Japan’s recovery from the 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster while celebrating Japanese traditions, and creative and innovative culture and technologies. The outbreak of COVID-19 that led to the postponement of the Olympics to 2021 and to Tokyo going in and out of states of emergency forced Japan to implement unprecedented restrictive guidelines and policies through innovative technologies to deliver the Games despite the challenges. The article is significant as it expands the literature on the newly used concept sport-tech diplomacy in the context of nation branding and country image, and offers lessons and recommendations for scholars and practitioners on sport-tech diplomacy.

Keywords:

• Mega events
• Japan
• soft power
• pandemic
• tourism destination image

Disclosure Statement

This article is an updated and modified version of the author’s perspective on public diplomacy “Sport-Tech Diplomacy at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games”, originally published by the Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California in November 2022: https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/Sport-Tech%20Diplomacy_11.21.22.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yoav Dubinsky

Yoav Dubinsky (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA), is an Instructor of Sports Business in the Department of Marketing and the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon in the United States. Dr. Dubinsky’s research interests include sports, country image, nation branding, and public diplomacy, especially in the context of global sports, the Olympic Movement, the United States, and Israel. His work has been published in such journals as the International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, Journal of Global Sport Management, Communication & Sport, Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, among others.