The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) says that announcements at competition venues during the Tokyo 2020 Games will be made in multiple languages, using an app developed with the cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The new service will also allow content displayed in writing to be converted to speech, and is being provided as part of Tokyo 2020’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, as outlined in the Games vision.
The app, known as the Omotenashi Guide, will additionally provide updates on the status of individual competitions as well as security information and emergency information to those who do not understand Japanese or with hearing and vision impairments, allowing more people to enjoy the Games safely, securely and comfortably. The technology deployed in this initiative will subsequently be used in various scenarios by the Tokyo metropolitan government, the government of Japan and other organizations as one of the legacies of the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Details of the Omotenashi Guide service are available at https://omotenashiguide.jp/en/
© Japan Today
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virusrex
I can understand the pressure of leaving behind the experience with the COCOA app, but reading the current translations of the app in the google playstore ("I want to flow foreign language announcements, but I can only speak Japanese" ??) this does not really inspires a lot of confidence. It feels like other apps already available could do the job without problem.
smithinjapan
No doubt made by the same wonderful domestic app makers that made the virus tracker app.
dagon
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) says that announcements at competition venues during the Tokyo 2020 Games will be made in multiple languages, using an app developed with the cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Did the Ministry perhaps also have help from a certain contractor , possibly a subsidiary of Dentsu, who received a overstuffed pork-laden contract?
The new service will also allow content displayed in writing to be converted to speech, and is being provided as part of Tokyo 2020’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, as outlined in the Games vision.
Multi-lingual text-to-speech. I am sure in 2021 no one has ever developed an app for that...
snowymountainhell
Calls to mind last year’s “failed” COCOA app:
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/Japan-s-flawed-COVID-19-tracing-app-is-digital-black-eye-for-Tokyo
with the Ministry's lack of digital common sense.” -
snowymountainhell
The “Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication” should be shortened to “MIXT” keeping with the government themes of continued missteps, misinformation and ineffectual, “mixed” communications.
Darius
Yea, so they should.
Mr Kipling
Another decision made before the decision to NOT ALLOW foreign spectators. Could the right hand please have a chat with the left hand?