The 2016 Sultan Mehmed Games: Closing Ceremony Pt.4

This should be read as a direct continuation of Part 3: http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-2016-sultan-mehmed-games-closing_21.html

Japan's Bit: As is protocol following the ceremonial handing over of the IPC flag from one host to the next that next host then puts on a short sequence. The purpose of this is to give a brief introduction to the country and possibly some of the issues it wishes to discuss in the four year run-up to its games.

I've not yet got around to covering Japan's section of the previous Closing Ceremony. This is somewhat annoying because they seem to have raised most of the issues in that section. This section simply reiterated a few of those issues while putting a disability twist on them.

As with in the Closing Ceremony of the ISIL games the Para-Olympic flag was handed to the Governor of Tokyo Prefecture/Province Yuriko Koike. The fact that she is the first ever female Governor of any Japanese Prefecture almost automatically promotes discussion about the role of women within Japanese society particularly in business and politics.

This is clearly something Japan intend on making an issue ahead of the 2020 games. In the previous Closing Ceremony Yuriko Koike was dressed in a very traditional Kimono. In this Closing Ceremony she was dressed in modern clothes including trousers and brightly coloured, futuristic shawl. This obviously contrasts the traditional role of Japanese women with the modern. Also the flag detail used to raise the Japanese flag was made up of two men and two women. Another little reference to gender equality.

The sequence itself began with the Japanese flag being shown on the giant TV screen. Although this image kept the shape of the flag with the circle at the centre the colours were soon replaced with the words; "Thank You" written in most if not all of the languages of the World. This was very much in keeping with the language barrier theme of the ceremony.

Alongside all the sport there is a sort of unofficial cultural and social Olympiad. The purpose of this is to show who can best identify and understand the issues being raised. This results in a huge amount of spying on these ceremonies as everyone tries to work out what theme the host will be setting before they unveil their vision to the World. With Brazil being home to the largest ethnically Japanese population outside of Brazil on this occasion I don't think the battle was particularly hard fought.

This image of a Japanese flag draped in the black of mourning with a hole in its centre reminded me of the some of the imagery used - particularly by Japanese broadcasters - in the reporting on the March 11th 2011 (11/3/11) Japanese earthquake. The fourth most powerful earthquake ever recorded anywhere in the World. In that context the messages of Thanks were thanks for the support shown to Japan during that time.

The March 11th earthquake was particularly talked about during recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations on a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol. Although the Paris Agreement US President Obama has dumped on everyone doesn't require anyone to cut their Greenhouse Gas (ghg) emissions the March 11th earthquake is exactly the sort of Force Majeure event that would free a nation from its obligations.

Going off on a bit of a tangent the son of Republican US Presidential nominee Donald Trump has recently been mocked for using Skittles as a simple way to explain the problem of not subjecting irregular migrants from Syria to proper security screening before granting them refugee status. In the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake I remember Fox News presenter Glenn Beck trying to use plastic tubes filled with Skittles to explain how fuel rods in a nuclear reactor function. He was similarly mocked.

However having spent the day trying to come up with a simple way to explain how a nuclear reactor works I do remember watching that and thinking; "I wish I'd thought of that."

We were then shown a video sequence of the 1964 Olympics - the last time Tokyo hosted the games. Obviously Japan and the World has changed dramatically since those black and white newsreels were shot.

Then Japanese fashion model Gimico took to the stage. Fashion is one of the areas in which Japanese cultural influence has spread across the World. At New York fashion week which took place during the games the very famous designer Marc Jacobs unveiled a collection inspired by the fashion of the Harajuku district of Tokyo. Rather demonstrating just how retarded America has become under Obama Jacobs was immediately condemned as a racist.

Gimico however is perhaps not your typical fashion model. Having survived bone cancer her right leg has been amputated above the knee and she makes her prosthetic a key part of her look. This is obviously a very inspiring Para-Olympic story.

Also even if no-one else will admit it if I see an attractive woman with a prosthetic leg wearing a short skirt or in this case not much of a skirt at all I will start to wonder how they have sex. Although it takes me longer I also wonder the same thing about men with prosthetic legs. After all there are clearly some purchase issues involved. Even in nations that are quite forward thinking on disability issues such as the UK the sex lives of disabled people remains something of a taboo. Unless you're talking to Lee Pearson, he never shuts up about it.

Perhaps feeding into the discussion about the role of women Japanese attitudes to sex are what I think many outsiders would find unusual. I seem to remember having Japanese pornography rules described to me as; "You can show whatever you like provided you don't show pubic hair." That type of rule not only allows for child pornography it seems to actively encourage it. However Japan did finally ban child pornography back in 2014 and actually started enforcing that ban in 2015.

Next to take to the stage was Koichi Omae a reasonably famous Japanese ballet dancer. Having his left leg amputated below the knee following a drink driving accident Omae gave up dance and fell into a deep depression. However he returned to dance with the help of a special prosthetic and regained his love of life.

Again this is obviously a very inspiring Para-Olympic story. However it also serves as a warning to anyone planning to visit Tokyo for the 2020 games. Japanese laws against drink driving are extremely strict. If caught not only will they prosecute the drunk driver they will also prosecute any passengers in the vehicle for being irresponsible enough to allow someone to drive drunk. They will then go and prosecute the vendor who sold the driver the alcohol in the first place. In the UK a drink driving conviction means you have your driving license suspended. In Japan it often means a prison sentence for all those involved.

So if you are going to the 2020 Tokyo games don't even contemplate drink driving. It will likely lead to a diplomatic incident.

Finally the stage was given over to Akira Hiyama who is a blind artist who creates visions of the world as he experiences them through his other senses. This of course was very much in keeping with the Synesthesia references.

Akira Hiyama's performance piece was centred around a song called "7pm in Tokyo" which I'm assured is very famous in Japan. However I've never heard of it and it seems that neither has Google. I'm guessing though it has some connection the Japanese practice of playing 2 minutes of music over the National Disaster Warning speakers at 5pm everyday to test the system and signify the end of the working day. It would be roughly 7pm before you get to meet up with people socially.

At around 15:15 on 22/9/16 (UK date) I'll pick this up after I've cleared my head a bit.

Edited at around 16:25 on 22/9/16 (UK date) to add;

Akira Hiyama's piece featured many performers including Gimico and Koichi Omae. However it seemed centred around four female dancers dressed to resemble what can only be described as military air hostesses. If the military had such a thing as air hostesses. If you are travelling to the 2020 Tokyo games you will no doubt encounter a number of air hosts and air hostesses but this reference also served as a reminder to anyone who may have missed Japan's gender balanced flag detail.

Also central to Akira Hiyama's piece seemed to be the Tokyo skyline. He used a 3D model of it as a sort of sensory keyboard and also drawings of it appeared repeatedly on the giant TV screen. This obviously introduced you to Tokyo's skyline. However it also seemed to be a reference to Stephen Wiltshire an Autistic British artist whose party trick is to draw complex skylines from memory after seeing them only once.

This combination of Akira Hiyama's visual impairment and Stephen Wiltshire's Autism very closely resembled Saulo Laucus - the visually impaired, Autistic man who sung the Brazilian national anthem. So much so you kind of wonder who was copying whom.

Thank You All Involved:  There was then a short video sequence thanking all the volunteers involved in the games. This not only included all the Games Makers who worked in and around the venues but also all the performers involved in the ceremonies along with the people of Rio who've had to put up with all this over the past six weeks.

Closing Speeches: It is IPC protocol that each closing ceremony must feature a speech by the head of the local organising committee - in this case Carlos Nuzman - and the IPC President Phillip Craven.

I really declined to cover the opening speeches because by that point the games were nearly over. I didn't really want to influence the closing speeches too much by going through what had been said in too much detail.

During his opening speech Nuzman did seem to almost deliberately whip the crowd up into a frenzy of booing by needlessly mentioning the government. He then immediately handed over to Craven who then bore the brunt of that booing. 

This time Craven had come prepared beginning his closing speech with a moment of silence for Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad who died on the penultimate day of the games. The thinking being that the crowd wouldn't boo during a moment of silence.

Speaking briefly about Golbarnezhad's I think it was just an unfortunate accident. It is not that uncommon for competitors to be killed during Olympic events - particularly at the winter games. Just at the 2014 Sochi games Australia started the games one team member short because Matthew Robinson had been killed in competition just before the games. The Closing Ceremony of the ISIL games featured a sequence to remember German canoe coach Stefan Henze who had been killed in a car crash in Rio.

However it is not unheard of for competitors to be killed in desperate efforts to draw attention to themselves. Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili at the 2010 Vancouver games being the most recent example. Those of course were the first games since the 2008 Beijing games in which Georgia launched its war against Russia. That resulted in Georgia very much being banished to the diplomatic cold. Kumaritashvili's death made them rather hard to ignore.

By contrast through the wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq which are all being fought by Saudi Arabia to limit Iran's regional influence along with the deal over the nation's nuclear program Iran are very much talked about at the moment. Therefore they've got no need to send one of their competitors to their deaths for attention. If anything they could probably do with less attention at this point.

As it turns out Guzman did not decide to wind up the crowd with his closing speech. However with some people wrongly considering him to be part of the Brazilian government his mere presence was met with a certain degree of disquiet. What really ruined the moment of silence though was that at this moment the heavens really opened drowning the arena in rain. This sent many in the arena fleeing their seats in search of shelter.

Although it wasn't anybody's intention this did rather give the impression that everybody in the stadium suddenly turned their backs on Craven and began walking out just as he started speaking.

Despite being visibly a little worried he was being snubbed Craven went of to award the Paralympic Order to the people of Rio. Although they seem to give out between 3 and 5 every year this is the highest honour the IPC can bestow. It was given collectively to the people of Rio for their services to the Para-Olympic cause by staging the games.

Be Brazil: We were then shown a short video sequence of the sights of Rio and Brazil more generally. Ending with the Twitter hashtag #BeBrazil this seemed to be an advert by the Brazilian tourist board.

17:20 on 22/9/16 (UK date).