Discussion: Kenro Hayamizu & Yutaka Iida "Media Events Shaping the City: Public Viewing, Street Drinking, Cafes, & Parks"

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This special feature "The Past, Present, & Future of Cities & Media" is brought to you by Yutaka Iida, Associate Professor at Ritsumeikan University’s College of Social Sciences, who specializes in media studies. This time, we have writer Kenro Hayamizu for a dialogue.

Both Hayamizu and Iida have written extensively about cities and media. Here is the diverse conversation they had about the impact the Tokyo Olympics had on urban culture and the cityscape affected by the pandemic.

PROFILE

Kenro Hayamizu

Born in 1973 in Ishikawa Prefecture. Writer. Main areas include urban theory and shopping mall research. Books include "1995" (Chikuma Shinsho), "東京β" (Chikuma Shobo), "ラーメンと愛国" (Kodansha Gendai Shinsho), "フード左翼とフード右翼" and "東京どこに住む?" (both Asahi Shinsho).

PROFILE

Yutaka Iida

Associate Professor at Ritsumeikan University’s College of Social Sciences. Specializes in media studies, history of media technology, and cultural sociology. Born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1979. Completed doctoral coursework without a degree at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. Author of "テレビが見世物だったころ：初期テレビジョンの考古学" (Seikyusha, 2016), co-author of "メディア論" (Foundation for the Promotion of the Open University of Japan, 2018), editor of "メディア技術史：デジタル社会の系譜と行方［改訂版］" (Hokuju Shuppan, 2017), co-editor of "現代文化への社会学：90年代と「いま」を比較する" (Hokuju Shuppan, 2018), and "現代メディア・イベント論：パブリック・ビューイングからゲーム実況まで" (Keiso Shobo, 2017).

Public Spaces in the City

Concept of Public Viewing During the Olympics

HayamizuRegarding the Tokyo Olympics, while there were tough decisions about whether they should be held and whether there should be spectators, it was surprising how quickly the idea of public viewing was canceled without much discussion. I thought using parks and plazas to enjoy the Olympics city-wide, or deploying advanced technologies for sports broadcasting, was a core element of the Tokyo Olympics. It seemed even more important than the presence of spectators. I believe it could have been an invention for new forms of gatherings.