The amazing Olympics extravaganza South Korea just pulled off in Pyeongchang is raising stress levels in Tokyo.
How, oh how, do we top that? The geopolitical kumbaya moment with North Korea. That K-pop show of force. Those adorable mascots that went viral. That otherworldly closing ceremony. The splashy sports facilities. Tokyo 2020 organizers were under lots of pressure before Pyeongchang. They're unlikely to sleep a wink over what "developing nation" South Korea just scored in the courts of global opinion and collective imagination.
Japan's worry-list also includes what happens after 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's team will leave it the Japan Olympic Committee to outdo South Korea. But perhaps inspired by the spectacle in Pyeongchang, Abe last week called up his Cabinet to ensure Tokyo doesn't suffer a post-2020 economic funk — not just dealing with Olympics-related debt and facilities that will go unused, but how to keep growth racing forward.