Current time in Tokyo: July 23, 9:01 p.m.
It looks suspiciously like a dress rehearsal for a big high school event.
Tokyo report
The woman carrying the Virgin Islands flag is taking no risk with Covid. She is double masked with a face shield. The first face shield I saw tonight.
Tokyo report
The Ugandan delegation walks in and it’s hard not to think of weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko, who was sent home after failing to make the team, then escaped for five days from his bedroom. hotel at training camp.
Why does Uganda come in after Indonesia when it is in alphabetical order? Because they arrive according to the alphabet of the host country.
Ukraine really puts on the laid back vibe: souvenir shorts and t-shirts.
Tokyo report
Russia Update: A revised roster says the team will come out 77th out of 206 nations. Currently there are up to 24.
Tokyo report
Yes, Victor: You must be wondering what the athletes think when they enter this empty stadium. They look disappointed, like they’re expecting to have a puppy on their birthday, but instead got a lousy sweater.
Israel looks very beautiful in fitted T-shirts. They are athletes, not members of a yacht club!
Giorgio Armani designed the formal outfits for the Italian team, as he has every Olympics since 2012, which is officially part of his EA7 Emporio Armani line. Uniforms can look pretty drab, it’s true, especially in the giant arenas where these ceremonies take place, but most of them are full of subtle if not hidden symbolism that means a lot to athletes and makes all kinds of references. at the time and city of the Games.
This year’s version is a good example.
For example: The jackets – all of which are recycled polyester, which may be a trend at these Games – are white, to represent “purity in sport” (that’s according to Armani).
The opening verse of the Italian national anthem, commonly known as Fratelli d’Italia, or Brothers of Italy, after the first line, is actually written on the inner lining of each.
And the graphics symbolize the Japanese flag, done in the Italian tricolor.
This is fashion diplomacy for you.
If some of this music sounds vaguely familiar to you, but where? These are orchestrated video game themes.
Tokyo report
The athletes wave to the crowd, as if there is a real crowd here. You have to feel for them. It’s their highlight and the big cheers they might expect are missing.
Tokyo report
Finally a little energy from the Argentine contingent.
And just as I’m typing this, here’s Aruba, mixing things up with a beautiful oceanic silkscreen print.
Many athletes take selfies of themselves as they enter the stadium. If you can’t see it live, you can see it on social media.
I never understand why OC look designers always think athletes should look like they’re working for an airline or going out for lunch at the local country club. But I don’t know if I’ve seen so many navy blazers in one place before.
Tokyo report
The two people, a man and a woman, holding the Argentine flag appear to be fighting for control. Or maybe the man is playing away from the woman? But give Argentina’s contingent of athletes an A + for jumping and dancing when entering the stadium. They’re trying to get the party started.
Interesting fact about Iceland: She won one last Olympic medal, in handball, in 2008.
Tokyo report
The many volunteers on the arena floor will be exhausted after tonight. They clap and dance when the athletes arrive in the stadium and have to keep moving to keep some energy in the stadium. Usually the crowd roars when each nation is announced. Not this time.
Tokyo report
Outside, the anti-Olympic protest is loud enough and the streets are quiet enough that the sounds of megaphones and whistles echo off the walls of the stadium. A protest banner can be roughly translated as “Stop the five rings”.
I love these Icelandic looks. Very nice discoloration.
Tokyo report
I feel like I’m watching a Dr Seuss musical with the pastels.
I love the parade of athletes; it’s always the funniest part of the opening ceremony.
Let the Olympic Parade begin! Because isn’t that what it is?
Tokyo report
The athletes are starting to arrive. The parade is scheduled to last (check notes) two hours! The first is Greece, the homeland of the first Games in 776 BC.
Tokyo report
This song is also on video. No doubt for reasons related to the pandemic, there is a lot more video and less live action this time around.
Tokyo report
Members of an orchestra are a lot like athletes, right? This is the premise of the next section of the show.
Tokyo report
Muhammad Yunus, who has contributed to the development of microfinance, receives the “Olympic Laurel” (via video). I wonder how that compares to his, uh, Nobel Prize.
What Victor describes captures exactly what it has been like for the past year and a half, most of us at home, watching things on screens that remind us of what it was like to be in the crowd. Life goes on, in a way, as we all watch from afar. These games try to capture a sense of that, that we can always find connections during scary and lonely times.
Tokyo report
These Hanten are worn in modern times for summer festivals.
Tokyo report
Acrobatic carpenters now unroll five large wooden circles. What could they possibly become? No prize if you guessed the Olympic rings.
Tokyo report
Previous directors of the ceremony recognized that their most important audience was the millions and millions of viewers, not the tens of thousands in the stadium. That’s even truer this year, as each performance ends with lukewarm applause from a handful of media and volunteers. Hopefully those at home don’t notice the difference so much.
Officially, carpenter costumes refer to the Hanten jackets, worn during the Edo period.
Tokyo report
Without explicitly mentioning it, the lone dancer on the platform in the center of the oval with waves of light circling the stadium during the minute of silence evoked the victims of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear catastrophe.
Tokyo report
Looks like they’re building platforms for a summer festival, with a soundtrack of Taiko drums.
These are quite sophisticated carpenter outfits.
Tokyo report
It’s vigorous and fun. An early climax.
Tokyo report
Time to salute … woodworking? Yes, there are dancers dressed as carpenters and the sound of their tools mingles with the tap dancing.
Tokyo report
The announcer is asking people to take a moment to thank everyone who died during the coronavirus pandemic and those who died during the Olympics. She then referred to the murders at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage and 11 team members were killed. A moment of silence followed.
A lot of modern interpretive dance takes place during this ceremony.
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