Effects of the host town initiative for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on residents’ Olympic Value Perception

Abstract

In 2014, Secretariat of the Headquarters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games of Cabinet Secretariat Japan compiled the Host Town Initiative, which aims to revitalize the region by establishing a ‘host town’ for each participating country/region and promoting mutual exchange between participating countries/regions and the Host Town. This was one of the legacies that the Tokyo 2020 aimed to promote and expand activities related to the Olympics at the local level and proposed to contribute to the Olympic Movement through sports and education. The aim of this study was to examine the effects to the promoting Olympic Movement of this sports policy and thus whether the Host Town Initiative has a positive impact on the perception of Olympic values in the local region. As a result of a questionnaire survey of Japanese citizens (n=1,004) in Japan in September and October 2021, the researchers elucidated the Host Town Initiative influenced positively the host town residents’ perception of Olympic value. This finding would be enabled the future host city of Olympic Games and related stakeholders promote the Olympic Movement effectively.