2 Years to Go: 110,000 Tokyo Games Volunteers Need to Be Secured Only in 4 Months

July 29, 2018

Tokyo- With only two years to go before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, the organizing committee of the games and the Tokyo metropolitan government are moving ahead with preparations to secure the some 110,000 volunteers needed for the quadrennial event.

The committee and the host city government plan to recruit volunteers in September-December. But many people involved question, "Is it possible to finish recruiting such a huge number of people in only four months?"

Another source of concern is that requirements for volunteers are too tough for those who have to work or study.

The organizing committee plans to recruit 80,000 volunteers for smooth holding of the games and the metropolitan government 30,000 for transportation guides and other services in the city.

The games volunteers will be required to work around eight hours a day for a total of at least 10 days and the city volunteers five hours for five days or more.

Volunteers will also need to attend a range of training seminars in advance.

The organizing committee and the metropolitan government are trying to stimulate participation in volunteer activities by distributing flyers at universities across the country and providing subsidies to companies introducing volunteer leave systems.

The Tokyo government also plans to make use of some 3,000 people participating in a tourism volunteer program launched by the government when Japan and South Korea cohosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They are currently working as sightseeing guides in major tourist spots in Ueno and Shinjuku.

"We'll let the tourism volunteers act as core members of the metropolitan volunteer team during the 2020 Games," a Tokyo official said.

But Seijiro Nishida, 69, who is a tourism volunteer and intends to take part in the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, notes the difficulty in recruiting a sufficient number of people.

"Although retired people like me can find the time, younger working generations would have trouble being confined for such long hours," he said. "Not a few people around me say they want to be Tokyo Games volunteers but can't be because there are too many constraints."

A metropolitan assembly member making preparations for the 2020 Games said, "I don't know how many people are aware of the need for pregame training to be volunteers."

The member also voiced concern that some people may give up on becoming volunteers due to the requirement.

Against this background, the metropolitan government plans to offer flexible schedules for pregame training programs and to utilize e-learning, in order to help people with jobs to join volunteer activities more easily.

An official of the organizing committee said, "We plan to distribute flyers by visiting summer festivals across the country to seek applicants." Jiji Press