Tokyo Olympics draw to a close

Was there any translation available for the foreign athletes during the speech in Japanese?

Bye, games. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Actually, let it.

All things considered, job well done.

Good riddance.

That was honestly the most boring and ‘mottainai’ ceremony I’ve ever seen.

Best spin I can put on these games: they will serve as a cautionary tale to the next hosts. "Yo, Paris. Vet the people involved very carefully. If you have someone who bullied a disabled kid to the point of flat-out psychopathy, and then bragged about it, they probably shouldn't be involved in the games, yeah?"

What a wonderful games, thanks to all the organizers especially Mr Bach.

Celebrating on my balcony with my partner having some cold beers., what a glorious time to be alive.

So many will have been inspired by the games, especially the children. Hopefully it can encourage more to exercise and take up sports to help end the worlds obesity crisis.

Everything was done with safety put first and the fear mongers now have to find another things to bawl about.

Advice to Paris: double check the Force Majeure clause in your contract

We can be happy for the athletes who trained so hard for the Games, but now they and the rest of us will need time to count the real cost of holding the Olympics in this time of Corona.

The closing ceremony was just as embarrassing as the opening ceremony. Thank God it’s over.

I really thought they would struggle to come up with a ceremony as boring as the opening but I was wrong. Very wrong. Shocking stuff.

China yapped about their gold medal “supremacy”. The US beat them out by 1 with 1/3 the population and whipped them in the total medal count.

China yapped about their gold medal “supremacy”. The US beat them out by 1 with 1/3 the population and whipped them in the total medal count.

Japan gets a huge bill that it will never pay back.

I can totally understand these feelings (mixed feelings about Olympics in the time of Corona). It is scary time. But as I said in a comment before; we, as athlete, thank Japan for its hospitality and bravery to still organize the Games, and we will do everything in our power to keep each other and this beautiful country safe!

Big virtual hugs!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdsYpWRjFFU

Advice to Paris: double check the Force Majeure clause in your contract

And advice to Bach, or whoever is in his role come the Paris games: the French are a lot more feisty than the Japanese and could well end up setting half of Paris on fire if you push your luck.

The Tokyo Ska Paradise bit was pretty good. A bit more bon odori would have been nice; dish out some sake, get the athletes involved. A dignified end to an unexpectedly fine couple of weeks. The Paris Olympics are going to be absolutely amazing, almost the perfect place for a summer sports event.

Glad they didn't get too weird with the anime & otaku angle.

Considering how anti-Olympics I felt at the beginning I'd just like to say I watched more and more of the Games as they went on and I really liked the closing ceremony. Great music mix - ska, brass band, folk, taiko, "Ue wo muite", Woodkid and finally Tomita's perfect version of "Clair de Lune".

Looking forward to the Paralympics now. :)

So many will have been inspired by the games, especially the children. Hopefully it can encourage more to exercise and take up sports to help end the worlds obesity crisis.

The thousands of people here in Japan who cannot afford a decent meal will be inspired after learning that everyday the organizing committee trashed lunch boxes in total 130K lunch boxes meant for volunteers rather than give it to the unfortunate or homeless. Very inspiring indeed dumping 120M Yen in trash bins over the course of 2 weeks.

RecklessToday  10:27 pm JST

I am crying tears filled with coronavirus. I see in the last month the number of coronavirus patients self treating at home has increased from a few thousand to over 20 thousand.

Quarantine for 10 days minimum, then go see a doctor.

A moment of solidarity for the technicians and artists who created an amazing light effect to launch the closing ceremony creating the Olympics circles and saw it quickly transformed into a glorified Kōhaku, Red vs White singing and grandpa on the sofa sucking crab in slippers.

Then a French astronaut plays La Marseillese on saxophone from the International Space Station while thousands of vaccinated people celebrate together under the Eiffel Tower and we are suddenly reminded that the rest of the world doesn’t live in Showa anymore.

Athletes nearly all walked out of the most boring Olympics Closing Ceremony ever.

Terrible music and choreography. Cannot think of how it could have been less designed for audience participation. Was it trying to be a copy of 1964?

Why not just put on a rock concert?

I see Japan is still insecure in its culture.

The taiko and traditional dance are the best part. They could also show modern J-pop or J-rock.

Hell, a random search of "taiko dance" easily triumphs anything shown here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZagsLrNzg3I

What a shame. Beijing was unashamed of its asian root.

Still glad Abe Uta was the japanese/asian representative instead of you-know-who.

Then a French astronaut plays La Marseillese on saxophone from the International Space Station while thousands of vaccinated people celebrate together under the Eiffel Tower and we are suddenly reminded that the rest of the world doesn’t live in Showa anymore

I’m going to watch that later. Literally the only part of the whole thing I will have seen.

Socially distanced, masked Opening Ceremony to free-for-all Closing Ceremony. Then showing Paris with people packed in like sardines with most not wearing masks including returning athletes. Oh and France averages 22,000 cases per day.

Thank god, the sports showcase called Olympics for rich nations to display their nationalism is over.

Japan could have done this, but with Taiko dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA0ZVxHRxCM

Oh well, Japan is still insecure its own culture.

I was going to say reality is going to really hit home hard tomorrow, but I think those for whom it SHOULD hit home hard are just going to live stuck in the glory of a few gold medals. Typhoon coming, more than double the cost of the bid -- which will be paid in taxes, the government not revealing the Lambda variant was known to be present days before the Games began but choosing not to tell us, vaccines at an extremely low level, Tokyo with daily record outbreaks (and the nation on the whole), extreme heat, and that's for starters.

The distraction is over.

A fabulous two-week event of showcasing the world's elite athletes. Wished it could have continued longer, but all good things must eventually come to an end. Congratulations to the IOC and the Japanese government's outstanding leadership for staging such a fabulous multi-faceted sporting event. It was indeed well worth waiting the extra year to see it.

Advice to Paris - Don’t allow Bach in charge. He only thinks about himself and his salary.

Watched the ceremonies on NBC, NHK and the smaller screen and translator as just annoying the crap out of me, don't why they would broadcast it like that instead of using CC.

Overall, it was ok, not the best of games, but given the fact that we had all this crap to deal with and minus the huge spectators, it wasn't THAT bad actually.

No celebration of human endeavor or achievement, it was a dour procession to lay the corpse of the IOC to rest in the throughs of a pandemic.

Seriously! What a joke!

Tokyo 2021 was the best games that could be possible during a world wide emergency. Congrats to those who worked hard with little or no fanfare. Congrats to those who trained for years and competed in these games.

A little sunshine for many nations in need when they scored a medal at these games. Proud moments that for a time buoyed people the world over.

Thank you Japan for your dedication and efforts holding the world games. I for one appreciate it.

The moth was the best part :D

In Europe, many athletes express their gratitude to their hosts, in particular the volunteers, that they could live their life dream at the Olympics despite the Corona pandemic. Having lived for many years in Japan I am disappointed by many notoriously negative comments in this forum. I have enjoyed the broadcasting from Tokyo & Enoshima AND the closing ceremony.

Thank you, Japan!

No!!!

it must be stated, the J Government have thrown $billons at this craziness.

And what have the J government and People got back in return, debt for generations to come.

No!!!

The IOC, parasitically siphon off billons in broadcast rights, the J people pay and at the same time suffer the poisonous after affects of the pandemic

It is a flipping outrage.

It could have been way more japanese. Taiko drum without taiko dance? Gurenge symphony but no actual j-pop?

Meh, I think Japan is very insecure.

I think the chinese have more pride in their ceremonies, that's why they are not fearing showing their culture.

Still, glad to see Abe Uta representing Japan. Looking forward to Beijing 2022!

Peter W

Great post, points well made

Anyone else notice that those that despise the Olympics are also the Covid Conspiracy Theorists? Those that said the Olympics would be a super spreader and have been saying apocalyptic times are ahead since the start of Covid.

I’m sure they will still find outlandish things to believe in and comment on daily, it’s quite entertaining in a way, but also very sad.

China yapped about their gold medal “supremacy”. The US beat them out by 1 with 1/3 the population and whipped them in the total medal count.

I breathed a sigh of relief that at least China didn't take the number one spot in either gold or medal count. I still think they should have been outright barred from the games.

All things considered it was a pretty good olympic so far. But i wish the article also go into more about the whole event. There is a lot more than what is said here. About the volunteers joining in and being thanked. This article didn't even give credits to all those who made this event happen. Volunteers who work in the heat and rain to make everything go smoothly. Cleaning up and making sure everything is provided for the athletes. The real heroes are the volunteers. I saw just how hard some of them hard work during these weeks.

Samishii......

A little sunshine for many nations in need when they scored a medal at these games. Proud moments that for a time buoyed people the world over.

The Tokyo Olympics saw more nations win medals (86) and more countries win gold medals (63) than previous Olympics, which can also be said of Rio & London.

American, Russian & Eastern European dominance of the track & field events has largely disappeared. More nations are competing for the big prizes in the big stadium.

The UK won medals in 25 events, more than any other nation.

A fantastic successful Olympics no other country could have pulled this off considering the circumstances

The UK won medals in 25 events, more than any other nation.

Not good. We need more athletically gifted people focused on club football and not trivial Olympic nonsense

Jimizo

Actually I have to have a sense of humour, I support Crystal Palace.

Not on Costco Happoshu tonight, bit classier, some Asahi Super Dry from Family Mart.

After living through the Olympic disaster of the 1976 Montreal games, I never imagined I would be living through an even bigger disaster, more corrupt and bigger financial debt and once again my taxes would be paying for it.

But here I am in Tokyo living through a disastrous games that make Montreal's games look like they were a roaring success.

Not on Costco Happoshu tonight, bit classier, some Asahi Super Dry from Family Mart.

An aristocrat by Osaka standards.

Actually I have to have a sense of humour, I support Crystal Palace.

Not on Costco Happoshu tonight, bit classier, some Asahi Super Dry from Family Mart.

And how did your children like the Olympics, seeing they will be paying for them for years?

You just buy your beer now, you got what you wanted and that's all that counted!

Finally GOOD RIDDANCE!! Now i dont have to listen to the news all day about olympics anymore Yahoo!!

The closing ceremony was just as embarrassing as the opening ceremony. Thank God it’s over.

Didn't watch it as I wasn't expecting much, but judging by SNS and yahoo japan comments, Japanese are pretty angry and embarrassed about this. Dentsu pretty much took all the money and ran, leaving some garbage crumbs behind.

Virtual taste of life in the capital. 555 !!!

Reading the comments on here, I can't help but think the majority of posters are not Americans. The American media has been quite favorable towards the Japanese management of the Games. You should have seen the coverage of Rio. The Rio games will be remembered in America for the squalid, standing water and the Ryan Lochte 'incident'. Rio's image took quite a beating. Tokyo, on the other hand, enhanced its reputation and all of Japan. People already knew that Japan - for the most part - is efficient, clean and orderly (and I know that there are many here who correctly note the inefficient business environment of fax machines and too many meetings, I agree...but that's a different context), but Japan pulled off a pretty Herculean (in difficulty and thanklessness) task quite admirably. Many an American has said to me 'there's no way the U.S. could've pulled it off, there probably would have been protests, scalping and probably a little violence to boot.'

Yes, the Tokyo games cost quite a bit of money, but if it wasn't for Covid, these games probably would have made money. Remember, pre-Covid, the biggest complaint was the inability to get tickets (and the demand to supply ratio was 10-to-1). And most posters here were griping about how bad the crowds were going to be.

In terms of those who say Tokyo lost a ton of money, keep in mind much of those stadium costs were sunk costs by the time Covid hit.

A win for Japan while the arch enemy Korea came in 16th place.

The Rio games will be remembered in America for the squalid, standing water and the Ryan Lochte 'incident'. Rio's image took quite a beating.

Do you mean the 'incident' where a drunk Lochte and friends urinated all over & trashed a gas station, falsely claimed that he he had been robbed by bogus cops, charged with falsely reporting a crime, lost all of his sponsorships, got suspended for a year, had to serve community service, and then was suspended for over a year by his own drug doping agency?

But sure, blame it on the Brazilians.

Meanwhile, as Tokyo Olympics draws to a close (which of course it doesn't as we have the paraolympics next) Japan's vaccination program has barely started....FFS!

The only question is can Japan beat its arch enemy again? The Olympics is the only way to beat an enemy without shedding blood. This has been a difficult year due to covid-19, yet Japan was still able to host the Olympics.

Good. Glad to see the back of them.

Well done and thank you Tokyo! It was an Olympic like no other but the athlete could shine. Also through "Shogun" Bach, as some media have named him, helped lift the spirit of the Tohoku. Look forward to the Paralympic!

Yes, the Tokyo games cost quite a bit of money, but if it wasn't for Covid, these games probably would have made money.

Not in a million years.

Original cost was supposed to be $6 billion, that was then pushed to $ 12 billion then by 2019 $15 billion before Covid.

Ticket sales was expected to bring in $800 million..

At $6 billion is could have made money but once it hit $12 billion long before covid that idea was long gone

Japan is still insecure its own culture. It has so much, yet it's afraid to show the world.

The whole ceremony can be about Taiko drum dance, a quick Youtube search can show how powerful it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZagsLrNzg3I

Still, the ending ceremony was much better than the opening because it shows a glimpse of japanese culture instead of hiding behind foreign songs.

Also, good for Abe Uta to represent Japan/Asia.

the US won this olympics, nothing new, even boring, but just for one gold, and compared to Rio US reduced his number of medals, but China improved and get more medals..

No, China winning the Olympics after leading it from early on and staying there - that would be boring

A come-from-behind victory on the last 2 days from a rush of team sports gold finals? That's more exciting (Women's Beach Volleyball - gold, Men's Basketball - gold, Women's Water Polo - gold, Women's Basketball - gold, Women's Indoor Volleyball - gold)

It's arguable that this is the US' worst Olympics in recent times........... and yet they still won, while once again achieving triple-digit total medals. This Olympics is in Asia, thus favoring nearby nations and those with similar timezones. The next summer Olympics is in Paris, favoring European nations, but closer to the US so it can only help them. And then the one after that is in the US itself............... enough said

Japan is likely glad that rival China didn't win a Japanese Olympics - something that China would've always reminded them about. Instead, Japan will only remember this for their winning more golds and medals than even their wildest dreams

Meantime even after all this, the US Olympics still ranks by total medals (as always been) - thus giving rival Russia the 3rd place, above Great Britain and Japan

While the IOC ranks Japan 3rd place due to # golds, with Great Britain pipping Russia on the last 2 days of their own gold rush. GB still riding the after-effects of their recent London Olympics

Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together. Hats off to the athletes, to Japan, to Tokyo, to the IOC, and to the thousands of volunteers. They all did their best to complete Tokyo 2020 despite insurmountable hurdles. Well done. Thanks.

Really wished the ceremony had shown more of the Taiko drum dance, it's powerful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M4K5wk9DCM