[tz] 2-hour DST during 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

[Matt Johnson]

It always boggles the mind when people think it somehow helps to move the clocks instead of just changing the event times.
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From: tz <tz-bounces at iana.org> on behalf of Paul Eggert <eggert at cs.ucla.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2018 12:33:57 PM
To: Time zone mailing list
Subject: [tz] 2-hour DST during 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

Prompted by the recent deadly heat wave in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met
yesterday with the president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, and
discussed whether to introduce one or two hours of daylight saving time during
the 2020 Olympics to help beat that summer's heat.

Although Japan's 2020 Olympics bid said that Tokyo's July/August climate has
"many days of mild and sunny weather" and is "an ideal climate for athletes to
perform at their best", in reality a Tokyo summer's heat and humidity can be
brutal: summer temperatures regularly get to 35°C (95°F) and last week peaked at
41°C (106°F).

The International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow staging the marathon at
07:00 to beat the heat. "Why not 05:00? the sun will already be up then," Tokyo
residents may be thinking. Apparently the recent heat wave has caused organizers
to think the same thing, as a 2-hour DST would advance the event's effective
starting time to 05:00 by the sun while still keeping it nominally at 07:00.

Although the 1964 Tokyo Games were held in October to avoid heat, this was
before the Olympics schedule was subject to the scheduling demands of
broadcasters and sponsors. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics ratings were
down 9% from 2012 (including digital streaming) and event dates will be an
important factor in the 2020 ratings. Although a 2-hour DST would presumably
affect attendance and ratings only in Japan, that alone is a significant concern
for the event's organizers.

My sources:

Tokyo weighs daylight saving time for Olympics as heat wave incinerates weather
descriptions used for 2020 Games bid. Japan Times. 2018-07-28.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/28/national/tokyo-weighs-daylight-saving-time-2020-olympic-games-bid-counter-heat/

OLYMPICS/2020 Tokyo organizers consider daylight saving to beat heat. Asahi
Shimbun. 2018-07-28. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201807280009.html
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