Tokyo Olympic Games Volunteer Uniforms

 

After a year's postponement and the pandemic causing the games to be closed to spectators, many volunteers were not needed or were not able to volunteer.  As a result there are uniforms for 28,000 volunteers that remain unused. 

Municipalities across the country are now wondering what to do with these uniforms, that were paid for with tax payer money.  More than 1.7 billion yen was spent on volunteer uniforms for the 2020 Games. Depending on what items are included, the cost of one uniform set was between 22,000 and 40,000 yen.  Some uniforms are being stored in private warehouses at additional costs. 

Because the uniforms have the official Olympic emblems on them, there are strict rules about how they can be used. No one seems to want to make the final decision on what to do with them. 

Sapporo, which was the location of the marathon and race walking events donated approximately 100 uniforms to schools for the visually impaired for use in goalball events, which is a sport played by people with visual impairments. 

Yuji Nakamura, professor at Utsunomiya University with expertise in sports administration said it is important to be transparent in how the uniforms are used.  In the meantime, they are sitting in warehouses.  

What do you think should be done with them?

Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympics Torch Relay - Shizuoka Prefecture

The original plan was for the Olympic Torch Run to pass through all 47 prefectures last year. Then came the pandemic.  The Olympics, including the Torch Run, were postponed for a year.  This year some prefectures didn't want the Torch Run because people would crowd in close to see it and potentially transmit the virus. It didn't go as originally planned, but it did go on. June 23 - 25 were the three days for it to pass through Shizuoka Prefecture. 

Thursday morning, I went to watch it.  The route was just a 20 minute walk from my apartment. 

I got to the route about an hour early because I thought it might be crowded.  It was not at all crowded where I was, which was near the #7 exhange. 

There were a lot of helicopters.  I don't know if they were media or the Self Defense Forces or something else.

There were tons of police officers, on foot and on motorcycles.

This bus carried the torch runners and dropped them off at the exchanges.

She got off the bus and waited for the fire from the previous runner. Each runner covered 200 meters.

The runners were surrounded by police.  There were more police than spectators.

Here's the fire exchange. It was done very slowly, I think for photos taken from the van.

And off she goes...

I was a little concerned about going because I had seen the crowds in other prefectures on the news, but it was not crowded, everyone wore masks and there were volunteers with signs to stay distanced and no shouting allowed. I think it was pretty safe.

I'm glad I could see it in person.

Olympic Shooting Issues in Japan

 

Japan has some of the world's strictest gun control laws. As a result, the number of gun deaths each year in this country of about 126 million people are in the single figures. 

I didn't realize how strict the laws were until I read about the 2020/21 Tokyo Olympics shooting events. Coaches are not allowed to touch the firearms, (not to mention fire one), only the participants. There are also strict limits on ammunition. Japan has a limit of 800 rounds of ammunition per shooter at any one time.  This is less than other competitions and previous Olympics. There are designated contractors who are allowed to ship the ammunition into Japan specifically for the Olympic Games. A 16 page guide was created for teams to warn about Japan's regulations. 

Wikipedia has compiled a list of gun laws by country if you are interested. This is what it says about Japan.

Japan
The weapons law of Japan begins by stating "No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords", and very few exceptions are allowed. Citizens are permitted to possess firearms for hunting and sport shooting, but only after submitting to a lengthy licensing procedure. As part of the procedure, a shooting-range test must be passed with a "mark of at least 95%". A mental-health evaluation taking place at a hospital, and a thorough background check where one's family and friends are interviewed, are also part of the procedure.
A gun license expires after three years, at which time license tests must be repeated. After ten years of shotgun ownership, a license-holder may apply to obtain a rifle.

Japan has been described as the country with "perhaps the first ever gun buyback initiative" in 1685, and is the first nation to have imposed gun laws in the world; as such, gun ownership is very rare: 0.6 guns per 100 people in 2007.  In 2014, Japan saw 6 gun deaths.

Each prefecture in the country can operate a total of three gun shops. New cartridges can only be purchased after turning in expended cartridges. In turn, new magazines can be bought only by trading in old ones. If a gun owner dies, their relatives must surrender their firearms. Off-duty police are not allowed to carry weapons, and arrests are generally made without firearms; instead, police are expected to be proficient in judo.

Here is one Wikipedia illustration about handgun possession.

Check out this bit of information about guns/mass shootings in the USA, source - The Guardian. Terrifying, isn't it? I'm happy to live in Japan, a country with such strict gun laws.

The Holiday Weekend

In Japan, we have a four day holiday weekend.  This was supposed to be the opening weekend of the 2020 Olympics.  Two national holidays were moved to Thursday and Friday to ease the congestion in Tokyo for the opening of the Olympics.  Sea Day was moved from earlier in July to July 23rd, and Sports Day was moved from October to July 24th. 

While no one knows what will happen in the next 12 months, officially, the Olympics were postponed to the same time next summer.  This includes the moving of national holidays. 

Because there are no overseas tourists coming to Japan now, the Japanese government came up with a plan to get people living here now to travel within the country.  The travel plan is called "Go To" travel campaign and it kicked off on Wednesday, just before the holiday weekend. (There are rebates and vouchers and it looks very complicated to take part, actually.) I'm not sure when it ends. 

The problem is, the number of people testing positive in Japan and especially Tokyo has been rising the last two weeks or so. On Tuesday (the day before the travel campaign started), Tokyo was excluded from the program. Don't go to Tokyo and people in Tokyo, don't go anywhere else.  I know, I know, what a mess. 

My weekend plan all along has been to stay at home, stitch, clean a little, maybe read.  My plans aren't changing. As much as I love to travel, I'm more than okay with staying at home over this long weekend and however long it takes.  

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for next year at this time though.

Japan Olympic Uniforms

With just six months until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it is in the news quite a bit.  Just last week, the Japan Oympic and Paralympic team uniforms were unveiled.  They will be custom made for each athlete.

Official duties uniform

Opening ceremonies uniform

What do you think of the uniforms? Some of the commenters have been critical saying they look like high school uniforms.  I like them.

Here are the 1964 Tokyo Olympic uniforms.

What do your country's Olympic uniforms look like?