著者

吉見 俊哉

出版者

日本マス・コミュニケーション学会

雑誌

マス・コミュニケーション研究 (ISSN:13411306)

巻号頁・発行日

no.86, pp.19-37, 2015-01-31

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In postwar Japan, the Olympic Games were organized as "postwar" events in the strict sense of the term-specifically, the Olympic Games not only symbolized the history of Japan's postwar recovery and economic growth, but also the athletic facilities that provided stages for many national dramas were postwar products created by transforming facilities used for military purposes during the war. Many of the national dramas that unfolded on these stages were also products created by shifting the focus of dramaturgy from military heroism to athletic heroism. The term "postwar period" as used here refers to the transition from militarism (war) to peace. In this paper, we first verify that the major facilities for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games were constructed on former Japanese military facility sites. Next, we confirm that throughout Japan, after the war many athletic facilities were constructed in places where military facilities were located during the war. Then, we reveal that in the process of returning Washington Heights in Yoyogi to Japan in order to construct facilities for the Olympics, there was a gap between the intentions of the United States and the Japanese government, which was actually seeking the return of the U.S. base in Asaka. In addition, we also confirm that the Oriental Witches and Kokichi Tsuburaya, who played leading roles in the national dramas of the Olympics, were both closely tied to the process through which a poor nation turned itself into an industrialized country-the Oriental Witches as former female workers of cotton mills, and Tsuburaya as a member of the Self-defense Forces from the Tohoku region. Thus, this paper aims to throw light on the continuous elements from the war period of the 1964 Olympic Games.