The 2025 Summer Deaflympics, officially known as the 25th Summer Deaflympics or XXV Summer Deaflympics, is an international multi-sport event that is scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan from 15 November 2025 to 26 November 2025.[1][2] The multi-sport event would also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Deaflympics, as the inaugural edition was kicked off in 1924.[3][4] This will be the first instance where Japan will be hosting the Summer Deaflympics in the history of the competition, and it will mark the return of another Olympic-styled multi-sport event in Japan since the beginning of the 2020's after the Pacific nation staged both the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.[5][6] It marks the second instance where an Asia-Pacific nation has been given the hosting rights of the Summer Deaflympics after New Zealand (1981),Australia (2005) and Taiwan (2009).[7]
Bidding
The Japanese Federation of the Deaf and the Japanese Deaf Sports Federation showed their optimism and keen interest in winning the bid for the hosting rights of the Summer Deaflympics.[7] It was in 2018 that the Japanese Federation of the Deaf made ambitious efforts to implement strategic plans for the bidding of the 2025 Summer Deaflympics.[8]
The Japanese Federation of the Deaf and the Japanese Deaf Sports Federation collaborated to hold their first meeting under the theme "Deaflympics 2025 Bid Preparation Division" on 18 January 2021.[9] During the meeting, the progression report and status of the campaign activities and the cohesive bidding strategies towards promoting Japan as the host nation for the 2025 Summer Deaflympics had been shared with the participants.[9][10] In June 2022, the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, expressed her support and cooperation for the bidding process to unanimously nominate Tokyo to be selected as the official host city of the games.[8]
The Japanese Federation of the Deaf structured the draft plan for hosting the sporting competitions mainly in Tokyo.[8]Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium in Tokyo and venues in Shizuoka Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture are being considered as frontrunners to conduct the sporting events to be featured at the Tokyo Deaflympics.[12][13] The opening ceremony and closing ceremony of the games are scheduled be held at the Komazawa Olympic Park.[14][7] The IOC 2020+5 Agenda approach has been implemented by the organizers with an aim of optimizing resources, and as a part of low-cost strategies, the ceremonies and some events are scheduled to be held at Komazawa Olympic Park.[8] Some facilities which were used at the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics have been chosen for the holding of sporting competitions during the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics.[8]
Ever since Tokyo was announced as the host city for the 2025 Summer Deaflympics, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government had predominantly engaged in robust promotional campaigns to publicize awareness about the Deaflympics. The awareness initiative about the 2025 Tokyo Deaflympics also included setting up special booths at sporting events.[12] Considering that Tokyo had been earmarked to host both the 2025 Summer Deaflympics and the 2025 World Athletics Championships, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government made strides in acknowledging Tokyo as an inclusive city under the motto "with anyone, anytime, anywhere."[15][16] The TMG also installed transparent translation screens at subway train stations across Tokyo to guide foreign tourists for their convenience on arrival in the stations, with the 2025 Deaflympics on the agenda of TMG's action plans.[17] Reportedly, pamphlets raising awareness about the Deaflympics were also distributed to various elementary schools in Tokyo.[15]
This decisions were made after coming to conclusions based on the 2021 survey made after the ending of the 2020 Summer Paralympics,conducted by the Parasports Support Center branch of the Nippon Foundation .[12] That only 16.3% of respondents had actually been aware about the Deaflympics, in stark contrast to the higher awareness and tremendous response that had been highlighted during the a specific survey about the event.[12]
In November 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government officially declared open the 'Miru Cafe' as part of key initiatives in the lead-up to the 2025 Summer Deaflympics. This cafe is set up on a temporary basis to operate until the Deaflympics Closing. [18] Former Japanese Olympic marathon runner Akemi Masuda was appointed as advisor to the preparation office for the Tokyo Deaflympics.[8]
Deaf culture
The organizers of the 2025 Summer Deaflympics also met roadblocks over the lack of international sign language interpreters who could provide demonstrations to the athletes coming from different nations with significantly diverse sets of deaf culture and sign language patterns. The Japanese Federation of the Deaf, which was at the forefront during Tokyo's successful bid for the Deaflympics, alerted that international sign language is a rare commodity in daily life in Japan.[12]
It was also revealed that a system to provide a certified benchmark as a criteria to recognize international sign language interpreters in Japan has been non-existent, and there had been concerns over the lack of actual reporting, enumerating the number of people in Japan who had specialized themselves in sign language.[12] The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was instructed about the concerns pertaining to the possibility of not being able to fulfill the weight of expectations around the availability of the international sign language interpreters. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government also apparently planned to provide an intensive training workshop to the interpreters on the appropriate usage of the international sign language.[12]
Critics pointed out that the Tokyo Deaflympics would propel a positive change in the development of deaf athletes, who are largely unrecognized in Japan. The critics validated that the deaf sportspeople in Japan are denied the opportunity of gaining adequate training facilities, including restricted access to the Ajinomoto National Training Center, and the deaf athletes are being constantly deprived of government funding.[8] The critics also insisted that the government policy in Japan only gives substantial importance to the Olympics and Paralympics, whereas the Deaflympics are not taken into consideration. According to critics, the government policy in Japan emphasizes equal respect and importance to both the Olympics and Paralympics without deviating from the set standards, but the same level of recognition does not apply to the Deaflympics.[8]
