The 2016 ISIL Games: Closing Ceremony Pt. 7

A seriously delayed continuation of Part 6; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-2016-isil-games-closing-ceremony-pt6.html

Japans Bit:

It is IOC protocol that each Closing Ceremony must include a sequence marking the transition from one Olympic host to the next.

The Greek national flag is raised while their national anthem is performed. Next the Olympic anthem is performed. The Olympic flag is then taken down and handed to a representative of the next Olympic host. The flag of that nation is then raised and their national anthem performed. Finally the flag of the existing host nation is taken down.

It is then protocol that the Closing Ceremony includes a sequence produced by the next Olympic host. The purpose is to briefly introduce us to that nation and identify the topics which will likely come up in the next four years preparing for their games.

On this occasion the 2020 Olympic host merged its sequence with the transition ceremony.

As Japan's national flag was being raised and its anthem was played the entire arena floor was bathed in red light.

At the edges of the arena floor what can only be described as; "Robotic Geishas" appeared. Geishas are of course a World famous symbol of Japanese culture. Japan is also one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth leading the way in many fields. Including in robotics.

In reality these Robotic Geishas were human performers wearing metal framed costumes covered in lights. They were propelled across the floor on wheels rather like a hoverboard.

As the Robot Geishas advanced the red light receded. Eventually it became a red circle at the centre of the white arena floor. Just like the red circle symbolising the rising sun at the centre of Japan's national flag.

Within the centre circle the word; "Rio" appeared twice. In reference to Rio de Janeiro where this ceremony was taking place.

One of the words; "Rio" became the word; "Obrgado." This means; "Thank You" in Portuguese, the native language of 2016 host Brazil.

The other word; "Rio" became the word; "Arigato." This means; "Thank You (or "Thanks")" in Japanese. The native language of 2020 host Japan.

Apart from highlighting the transition from Brazil 2016 to Japan 2020 this highlighted the strong cultural links between Japan and Brazil. The largest ethnically Japanese population outside of Japan lives in Brazil.

The arena floor and the stadium seats were then bathed in light showing the word; "Thank You" in pretty much all of the languages of the World.

This issue of language has been a recurring theme throughout the 2016 Games. As technology has advanced the World has become smaller. For example I can publish this on the Internet in the UK and it can instantly be read in both Brazil and Japan.

The only real restriction left is language. You can certainly read this in Brazil and Japan. I can't guarantee you'll understand it though.

The reference to language here though also prepares you for one of the big culture shocks you'll be in for if you travel to the 2020 Games.

In many parts of the World people fluently speak several languages. If you travel to particularly tourist areas you will find people who speak the language of their main guests along with signs in multiple languages.

So even if it is everyone's second or third language most people can normally find a common language. Typically English.

The British are famously terrible at learning other people's languages. Even so these days if you go to the main tourist areas of places like London you will find signs not only in English but also languages such as French, Spanish and Chinese.

Japan is absolutely not like that. As a island nation it is very insular with very few people speaking a language other than Japanese.

As a result all the signs, menus, maps and so on are in Japanese. And only Japanese. Making things utterly incomprehensible to outsiders.

I remember once being at a railway station in Barcelona, Spain and discovering that all the signs were written in three languages. None of which I could read.

However by matching the combination of letters in the Latin alphabet on my ticket to the combination of letters in the Latin alphabet on the signs I was able to just about cope.

Given Japanese's logographic writing style something like that is simply not going to be an option.

The Japanese sequence then cut away to a video presentation.

This began with the pedestrian scramble crossing outside Tokyo's Shibuya Railway Station.

The Shibuya Crossing is one of Tokyo's most famous landmarks. It's featured in movies such as; "Lost In Translation," "The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift" and "Resident Evil: Afterlife."

It also introduces you to another one of the big culture shocks you're going to experience travelling from Brazil 2016 to Japan 2020.

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro is a beach city. This gave the 2016 a very laidback, casual atmosphere.

By comparison the pace of life in Japan and particularly Tokyo is just insane.

The Shibuya district of Tokyo is around 15kmsq (6 milesq) in area. It is home to around 220,000 people giving it a population density of around 14,600 people per square kilometre. By comparison Rio de Janeiro has a population density of around 5,300 people per square kilometre.

The Shibuya Crossing serves two main railway stations. Shibuya Station and Shinjuku Station. Between them the two stations are used by around 6 million people each day. Many of those people also use the Shibuya Crossing.

The video then went onto show the 33 events which will make up the 2020 Olympics alongside other famous Tokyo landmarks. Such as the Rainbow Bridge and the famous Bullet Train.

The video was also interspersed with famous characters from Japanese Anime and video games. Such as; "Hello Kitty," "Pac Man," "Doraemon" and "Captain Tsubasa."

The video featured several famous Japanese Olympians; Swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, Long-Distance Runner Naoko Takahashi and Boxer Ryota Murata.

It then cut to the back of a limousine where it showed another famous Japanese. The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Prime Minister Abe kept looking at his watch, worrying he wasn't going to make it to the Closing Ceremony in time.

In his urgency Prime Minister Abe then donned the costume of; "Mario" from the famous "Super Mario Brothers" game franchise from the Japanese company Nintendo.

Having become Super Mario Prime Minister Abe was then provided with a; "Warp Pipe" from the game by the Doraemon character. This allowed him to travel through the centre of the Earth from Shibuya Crossing to Rio's Maracana Stadium where the Closing Ceremony was being held.

His journey across the globe was illustrated by a cartoon style animation. This showed the huge distance between Tokyo and Rio. It also represented the strong links between Japan and Brazil which is home to the largest ethnically Japanese population outside of Japan.

The video then ended and the action returned to the arena.

There a Super Mario Warp Pipe had appeared in the centre of the arena floor. Standing atop of it was Super Mario.

Super Mario then took off his costume to reveal that it was the actual Prime Minister Abe.

Traditionally the transition ceremony is performed by the local officials of the two host cities. In this case the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Paes and the Governor of the Tokyo region Yuriko Koike.

So for the upcoming host to send its Head of Government/State to a Closing Ceremony is a huge gesture of solidarity. To have your Prime Minister not only attend in person but actually physically participate in the Closing Ceremony is a massive gesture of solidarity.

The sequence then merged the video/animated portion with the real word portion. It did this was an Augmented Reality (AR) sequence.

Essentially AR is the layering of one level of electronic images on top of another layer of electronic images.

I think the most widely known example is the Nintendo licensed "Pokemon Go" Smartphone game. In the game you go to a specified GPS location. You then hold up your Smartphone in video mode and if you're lucky the Pokemon computer game characters will appear.

This was the first time that Augmented Reality had ever been used in any Olympic or Para-Olympic ceremony. Although significant for that reason the sequence actually only showed the 33 event that will make up the 2020 Olympics.

The next phase of the sequence saw a joint performance by male rhythmic gymnasts from Aomori University alongside female dancers from the; "Elevenplay" dance troupe.

The centrepiece of this performance were giant box frames. They were made up of  lighting tubes. As they were moved around the arena floor and accompanied by similar block like light projections they were supposed to represent video pixels.

This seemed to highlight Japan's advances in technology  from the block graphics on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) which brought the World Super Mario Brothers through to the Augmented Reality of Pokemon Go.

Throughout this phase of the dance/gymnastic routine the music was very modern Japanese in style. It had been specially composed by Yasutaka Nakata. Composer and producer for famous Japanese acts including the Perfume girlband, Techno band Capsule and the singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.

The phase ended with an overhead view of the Tokyo skyline being projected onto the arena floor. This resembled an electric circuit board. Further highlighting Japan's leading role in technology.

The dance/gymnastic routine then seamlessly moved into a second phase.

This was really dominated by performers standing atop of the Warp Pipe waving the Japanese national flag amid lots of red light.

The music in this phase was much more of a fusion between modern Japanese music and the Latin Jazz and Salsa which Brazil is famous for. It included parts of the music from the 2012 play; "Egg" by the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre.

The main message of "Egg" is that whether in Sports, Music or Olympics War and Nationalism will never again be mixed.

Although I am seriously late in writing this up the next games after 2016 were the 2018 Winter Games held in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South).

Between 1910 and 1945 the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Japanese Empire. This occupation was absolutely brutal with the Korean Peninsula suffering a form of cultural genocide and the hands of the Japanese.

During the Second World War Imperial Japan allied itself with Nazi Germany. It was their defeat that lead to the partition of the Korean Peninsula and the Korean War which technically still continues to this day.

Imperial Japan's defeat in the Second World War also saw it forced to adopt a new constitution. This replaced the power of the Emperor with a democratic Parliamentary system. It also forced Japan to adopt a position of neutrality by preventing it from forming a military.

Current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is quite a nationalistic leader. One of the main things he wants to do is scrap this Article 9 provision once again allowing Japan to possess a military.

This shift towards military nationalism is likely to be a significant talking point as Japan hosts the big nationalistic celebration that is the 2020 Games.

The fact that Prime Minister Abe is using the apparent threat from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) as an excuse to scrap Article 9 has not gone down well with the RoK. Not only do they have to deal with the DPRK they still have vivid memories of Japanese military nationalism.

The mass of red light then gave way to a mass of blue light. Amid all the talk of computer graphics and pixels this seemed intended to make you think of the Red, Blue, Green (RBG) colour pallate which makes up all the colours in pixels.

With that idea in mind once the Red light had been replaced with Blue light you would expect the Blue light to be replaced with Green light. However the Green light never appeared.

This seemed to indicate that Japan's commitment to environmental or "Green" issues such as Climate Change goes unspoken. After all the Kyoto Protocol is named after the Japanese city of Kyoto where it was signed.

Whatever the colour of the light it along with the pixel boxes gradually began to recede towards the Warp Pipe at the centre of the arena floor. This seemed to be a reference to the main concern heading into the 2020 Games.

In March 2011 Japan suffered the fourth most powerful Earthquake ever recorded. This triggered a Tsunami which amongst other things caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

This forced Japan to shutdown all 54 of its nuclear power plants. At the time those provided Japan with 30% of its electricity. So their closure triggered an electricity crisis in Japan which continues to this day.

Therefore there are legitimate questions over whether Japan will be able to provide enough electricity to power the 2020 Games. They have currently brought 3 nuclear power plants representing around 2% of production back online amid widespread public protests.

The sequence ended with the Tokyo 2020 logo and an image of Tokyo's skyline showing landmarks such as the Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and the Skytree.

17:10 on 2/4/18 (UK date).