If deceiving taxpayers were a sport, Japan would win the gold for runaway Olympics costs spiraling toward ¥3 trillion, 10 times initial estimates. But the real cost of Tokyo 2020 could be to Japan's economic reform prospects.
It's hard to recall a developed nation so excited about two weeks of sporting events few will recall two months after the five-ring circus leaves town. Japan is in the grips of full-blown Olympic mania. None more so than a government that should spend every waking moment implementing structural changes aimed at higher living standards 40 years from now. Instead, it's obsessing over sports-facility designs, tourist lodging, Wi-Fi availability, putting English signage in taxis and whether Olympic marketing logos were plagiarized for a fleeting moment four years from now.
These are but a few examples of the short-termism gripping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Japan. And what a worrisome spectacle it is as Abe's "fourth arrow" distracts the government from making the original three a reality. In December 2012, Abe sold his revival program with a samurai metaphor. Three arrows fired at a target can do some damage, but three shot together ensure success. And so Abe pledged to fire monetary, fiscal and deregulatory shots simultaneously at deflation.