“Mirai” means future in Japanese and “sora” means sky. A glossary of key words to navigate the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and explore the games' sustainable mobility plan, created together with an exceptional partner.
In the 2003 film Lost in Translation, two Americans – fading movie star Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray, and recent graduate Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) – keep each other company during long sleepless nights in a Tokyo hotel. The film's atmosphere and cinematography have deepened cinema audiences' fascination with the aesthetic of Japan's ultra-modern metropolis, while its plot and screenplay have prompted reflection on the complexity of cross-cultural encounters. But if Sofia Coppola's film is about loneliness and misunderstanding – about what is lost when something is translated – diversity is also a value that enriches us.
This is expressed in one of Tokyo 2020's slogans: "unity in diversity." These will be games built on inclusion, and it is therefore essential to guarantee everyone the freedom to take part in events while honouring the commitment to hosting sustainable Olympics – that is, zero-emissions games. To that end, Toyota, a company founded in Japan in the 1930s that now operates worldwide, and an official partner of the international Olympic and Paralympic committees, is committed to fielding the lowest-impact Olympic fleet ever assembled under the banner of its flagship programme Mobility for All, which aims to promote a sustainable and inclusive society through sport and sustainable mobility.
We have created a glossary, with words written in Italian and in Japanese (and one English term), to understand how these values translate into concrete terms in the Tokyo 2020 transport plan, which will allow hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy the spectacle of sport using accessible, low-environmental-impact means of transport.
We start from the roots. The capacity of trees to absorb CO2 and pollutants is indispensable for reducing emissions. The city of Tokyo has invested in urban forestry, increasing the number of trees lining its streets from 480,000 in 2006 to one million in 2020. In the context of the Olympics, the entrance to the athletes' village was built using sustainable timber donated by 63 Japanese municipalities, which will be returned to those communities once the games are over for reuse; and in the capital's Olympic museum, wood has been used from trees planted when delegates from 44 nations donated more than 270 varieties of seeds to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A physical and symbolic link between the games that transformed the city in the post-war era and those of today.
The Olympic and Paralympic games will be an important stage for Toyota to present its vision of mobility, which places electric vehicles alongside hybrid and hydrogen-powered ones, with the launch this year of ten new fully electric models, as we reported from the Tokyo Motor Show in November 2019. Making its debut at the Olympics will be the e-Palette, an autonomous electric vehicle that will be used as an official shuttle. Around twenty of these vehicles will allow people – including wheelchair users, thanks to wide doors and electric ramps – to get around the city.
Ninety per cent of the vehicles provided by Toyota for the Olympics will be electric. Alongside the e-Palette there will be Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), the Prius PHV, and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), including the Accessible People Mover (APM) and the autonomous vehicle Concept-i.
The sustainable mobility plan for Tokyo's Olympic bid is finally becoming reality. The transport document envisaged the use exclusively of "low-emission or efficient cars and buses for Olympic staff, namely electric, fuel cell and hybrid vehicles." According to forecasts, more than 600,000 visitors will arrive from abroad to attend the Olympics and more than 10,000 athletes will compete in over 300 events across 33 different sports. Meanwhile, 4,000 athletes will compete in nearly 550 events across more than 20 sports during the Paralympics. These are impressive figures that put into perspective the importance of using efficient, low-impact vehicles. In keeping with this commitment, Toyota will provide 3,700 mobility products that will make up the Olympic fleet with the lowest impact of any previous edition.
Using hydrogen as an energy carrier makes it possible to drastically reduce CO2 emissions and pollutants such as NOx and SO2: fuel cells generate an electrochemical reaction (creating water from hydrogen and oxygen) from which the energy to power the motor is obtained. The exhaust therefore releases only water vapour. Toyota placed its bet on this innovative form of mobility as early as the launch of the Mirai (未来) saloon — "future" in Japanese — in 2014. Now, for the Olympics, the Mirai Concept will form part of the Olympic fleet. This model paves the way for the arrival of the new version, which has 30 per cent more range, and is coming to market this year but only in certain areas — such as Japan and some European countries — chosen on the basis of existing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.
Freedom of movement is the key to enabling people with physical limitations to play an active role in society.Sir Philip Craven, member of the Board of Directors of Toyota Motor Corporation, former president of the International Paralympic Committee
Accessibility is a fundamental piece of Tokyo 2020's sustainable and inclusive vision. For this reason, the city decided some time ago to adopt the principles of universal design, which aims to improve access, safety, health and participation for all citizens through the design of environments, goods, services and urban systems. In practical terms, level differences for boarding buses and between trains and platforms have been eliminated. Furthermore, the Tokyo 2020 organising committee has drawn up guidelines covering all aspects of accessibility, and during the games, audio information in foreign languages will be available on public transport — not only relating to transport but also covering tourism and competition results, making it accessible to visually impaired people as well.
Guaranteeing freedom of movement for everyone is Toyota's objective, with the aim of making available not only vehicles but also tools and services to help people get around and overcome their own limitations. This is the vision behind the Mobility for all manifesto programme, which is guiding the company's transformation from a "car company" into a "mobility company." To tell the story of this project, the Start your impossible campaign was launched, featuring Olympic and Paralympic athletes — including the Italian Toyota team, which features fencer Bebe Vio — who have shared their personal accounts of overcoming their own limitations, available on the dedicated website. Mobility for all therefore also means overcoming challenges with the aim of unlocking one's full potential — which is precisely what Olympic and Paralympic athletes train for every day.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, these values will take shape with Toyota's first hydrogen bus. Sora is the acronym for sky, ocean, river, air — that is, the water cycle on Earth — and also means sky in Japanese. It is the name of the first fuel cell bus to receive type approval certification in Japan, and it will be in service during the games. It emits only water vapour, bringing CO2 and other pollutant emissions down to zero, and its design has been conceived with accessibility in mind: for example, all seats fold away automatically to leave more space for wheelchairs. Safety features have also been incorporated, such as a system that eliminates the risk of sudden acceleration, while the automatic gearbox helps prevent swerving. The bus of the future, then, is something we will see at Tokyo 2020.
The urban transport system of the Japanese capital is recognised as a benchmark of excellence, and Tokyo 2020's sustainable mobility strategy is based largely on its efficiency and capillary reach. With more than 37 million inhabitants, the Tokyo metropolitan area is the most populous in the world. The city's rail network, considered one of the best in the world, stretches for one thousand kilometres, has over 760 stops and is used by more than 25 million people every day. This service is integrated with the 13 metro lines, covering a total of nearly 290 kilometres and 235 stations, used by over eight million passengers daily. Not to mention the more than 2,500 buses that serve two million people a day.
Ahead of the Olympics, certain services will be enhanced, such as the Toei Oedo metro line, which connects some of the key Olympic venues and will operate 24 hours a day. One of the key aspects from a low-impact mobility perspective is the proximity of the Olympic venues, 28 out of a total of 33 of which are located within an eight-kilometre radius of the athletes' village, in an area very well served by public transport. Organisers expect that more than 70 per cent of athletes will be able to reach their competitions from the Olympic village in just ten minutes, and all spectators will be encouraged to use public transport, with free access on the days of the events they attend.