When the Olympic Games in Tokyo were postponed by a year 14 months ago, the organizers attached great importance to the fact that the name of the Games would be named “Tokyo 2020”.
It was an attempt to save the established brand name of the games and to be able to continue using promotional material that had already been produced.
Last but not least, Tokyo 2020 sounds more pleasing and looks more memorable than Tokyo 2021. The Japanese newspapers, however, presented the decision with a problem.
What do you call the Olympic Games that are called 2020 but will take place in 2021?
Patrick Welter
Correspondent for business and politics in Japan, based in Tokyo.
Follow I follow
A cursory overview shows that there is no single solution.
Three sports newspapers are simply sticking to Tokyo 2020. Other newspapers are avoiding the problem by only writing about the Tokyo Olympics.
This reflects the self-confidence of a millennia-old Japanese nation in which dates are becoming less important.
Yomiuri, the country's largest daily newspaper with a morning circulation of 7.7 million, developed the “Tokyo 2020+” logo. The plus sign suggests that the games have even more to offer after the postponement than before. The newspapers Mainichi and Sankei have developed the most original solution for their Olympic signet: “Tokyo 2020 + 1”. That leaves all options open for new editions of the Olympic Games in 2020 + 2 ff. Or simply: Tokyo forever!