The 2020 Tokyo Olympics corruption trail stains Japan’s corporate sector

The Tokyo Olympics just keep getting more expensive by the day. First, it was the pandemic delay. Then, it was the spectator-less Games. And now, infamously, from kickbacks lining the pockets of Olympic organizing committee officials.

Prosecutors have been building a corruption case against Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee member. A former boss at Japan’s marketing giant Dentsu, Takahashi has been arrested three times since Aug. 18.

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Takahashi, considered a quasi-civil servant in his role during the Games, began serving on the committee in June 2014. Leveraging connections from his four-and-a-half decade career spearheading international sporting events at Dentsu, he secured several sponsorships. In exchange for some of these deals, he allegedly accepted bribes totaling nearly a million dollars.

A snapshot of Haruyuki Takahashi’s bribery allegations

? 51 million yen ($350,000) from Aoki Holdings, a little-known clothing company that dressed the Japanese Olympic team and sold around 30,000 suits and jackets with the emblem to the general public. Between October 2017 and March 2022, there were 50 “thank you” payments made to Takahashi’s account from Aoki, Tokyo Prosecutor’s office claims.

? ¥76 million ($530,000) from major publisher Kadokawa, whose sponsorship win allowed the company to publish programs and other books related to the Tokyo Olympics.

? ¥15 million ($104,000) payment from Daiko advertising that Takahashi and another official allegedly received.

? ¥8 million ($56,000) kickback from Tokyo-based Sun Arrow, which supplied soft toy mascots for the sporting event, that Takahashi apparently received via a golfing buddy.

?️ Advertising agency ADK and Park24, the largest car park operator in Japan, two other corporates involved in the Tokyo Olympics sponsorship, are also being investigated.

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Bribed: Yes or no?

After authorities detained Takahashi, a string of other arrests followed. Some admit to misdeeds, while others say otherwise. The two most prominent cases are:

✅ Hironori Aoki, the founder and former chair of Aoki Holdings, who was arrested alongside his brother and another senior managing executive officer at his firm. Aoki admitted to making bribes.

⛔ Kadokawa Tsuguhiko, the chair of media conglomerate Kadokawa, who was arrested with another executive and employee. Tsuguhiko, who stepped down from the company following his Oct. 4 indictment, denied bribing Takahashi, claiming that any money exchange was part of a consultancy fee.

By the digits

$13 billion: total cost of the Tokyo Olympics

$40 billion: losses Tokyo Olympics avoided by not canceling the game in July 2021, when they finally took place after a year-long delay, but with fewer athletes and no spectators

$22 billion: losses Tokyo Olympics footed for hosting the Games without fans

¥150 million ($1 billion): what Dentsu guaranteed in sponsorships

¥370 million ($2.5 billion): what Dentsu…