yoshi Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 What would you like to see in the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? Any ideas you have for as much or as little of the ceremony are welcome, & as time goes on, this thread could also become a "news" thread when the Games get closer. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munichfan Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 It's never too early to start a ceremonies thread, is it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 I was thinking about this the other day, in terms of it NOT being an Opening Ceremony that 'introduces' the host country completely like we saw in Beijing, Sydney (in spite of 1956), Barcelona, Seoul and Moscow. I think emphasis should be placed on acknowledging 1964 as the time when Japan came out as a positive, more open global citizen, its debut. 2020 should posture itself as a post-1964 epilogue of Japan, and everything that has shaped Japan since then - the good and bad. This could include the unique Japanese sensibility and customs, along with nation shaping periods like the economic downfall in the 1980s/90s, the tsunami, Japanese modernity, simplicity,etc.. could be quite stunning and moving... Basically an Olympic ceremony that celebrates the modern, recent Japanese story. Anything delving further back than that would be entering WW2, and before that starts to creep into the territory of Beijing 2008. Oh yeah, Studio Ghibli for the Opening Ceremony! Baron is going to hate this - but I'd love to see it be a very sharp, Japanese styled version of Athens 2004, that comments of Japanese life in a similar way that London 2012 told the modern British story. Basically a Japanese cross between 2004 and 2012. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 NO playing of "Sukiyaki" or "Sakura" songs! No NOH or Kabuki drama scenes. NO Miss Kitty anything!! Except for Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera -- NOTHING traditionally Japanese at all in the OC!! I'd like to see them dramatize an APOLOGY for their World War 2 crimes, and a great reenactment of the Fukushima tsunami!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 Tokyo's ceremony should be all about establishing Japan's brand. I don't envision a ceremony that relies heavily on history. I'd love to see a surreal cultural collage of present-day Japan. Cool. Quirky. Surprising. Hi-tech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie_Victoria Posted September 16, 2013 Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 NO Miss Kitty anything!! C'mon on. You like your Miss Kitty. More seriously. It will have to be something very futuristic, Mr Yoshi. Very technologic, even. I fully trust Japan will be able to do this. They're a nation of creators too. Go Pop'art, go fashion, and go artistic imagery. Japanese people have a gift for poetry; this should enable them to create fantastic sequences with all sorts of elements, colors, materials. Something close to what Athensfan suggests actually. (Just realizing). Will be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshi Posted September 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2013 BTW, I'm not actually Japanese, my name comes from this: The best character in the Mario series (image from Wikipedia) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattygs Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 It's an interesting though, how will they structure the ceremony. I too would be against a historical chronological structure, that's not to see a sense of order won't work . Athens showed a progression of art and thought, London a chronological history of *revolutions*, Beijing a history of famous inventions and breakthroughs . I think something abit more abstract like this might be the way to go with Tokyo. I sort of see something akin to Athens. Using a lot of key images as opposed to gigantic fields of people. Something like the solitary image of the *snow Queen* from the Nagano handover in Lillehammer, standing there with her kimono training down the stand, or Midori Ito rising up to light the Olympic cauldron. These are scenes that Japan can do well, and the simplicity really does fit into their culture. Even the scene from Memoirs of a Geisha where Sayuri performs her breakthrough dance performance, with the snow falling down. I'd like to see a few bits and pieces of these moments in the opening ceremony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 It is certainly going to be magic - and I am sure a nice respite from the bombastic nature of Beijing, London and no doubt Rio. Even though I'm right behind the new frontiers, and supported Istanbul for 2020 - I have to admit I'm somewhat more excited about Tokyo than I am for Rio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.bernham Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I would like it to start out with the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Then from there tell the story of how Japan became the world leader it is today. Sort of how Japan used the bombs to reinvent herself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I would like it to start out with the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Then from there tell the story of how Japan became the world leader it is today. Sort of how Japan used the bombs to reinvent herself. Horrible idea IMO. Anyway, they paid tribute to the bombings in their 1964 OC, with the final torchbearer being a kid who was born on the day that Hiroshima was bombed. Redundant, and irrelevant, to do it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I would like it to start out with the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Then from there tell the story of how Japan became the world leader it is today. Sort of how Japan used the bombs to reinvent herself. Jeez that sounds God-awful. Utterly tasteless. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattygs Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 Ohhhh, that would be horrible and such bad taste. It's still quite a tangible thing with people still physically suffering from those nuclear attacks. Aside from that, despite thinking the Beijing 2008 approach isn't one that would work for Tokyo, I do think a Japanese version of the segment using the Dragon Pillars would be quite neat. Just seeing all the colour of the likes of the Heian period etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I'd like to see them dramatize an APOLOGY for their World War 2 crimes, and a great reenactment of the Fukushima tsunami!! I would like it to start out with the nuclear bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Then from there tell the story of how Japan became the world leader it is today. Sort of how Japan used the bombs to reinvent herself. Both very tasteless and tacky ideas. Should a future US Olympics dwell on the millions of innocent people American foreign policy has killed over the past century? Or recreate the horror of 9/11 in stadium theatre? The horror and hurt of other people should not be made for the entertainment others. Anyway any prominent reference to Hiroshima would be pointless as it would mean Tokyo has nothing new to say 56 years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 (edited) Both very tasteless and tacky ideas. Did you really think I was serious with that? Should a future US Olympics dwell on the millions of innocent people American foreign policy has killed over the past century? What utter tripe. U are even more neanderthal than I had first imagined. No wonder you took my initial post seriously. Edited September 17, 2013 by baron-pierreIV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I think the ceremony should be a mix of tradition with modernity. Nagano ceremonies were purposely made simplier back then, but now we're talking about the jewel of the crown when it comes to sport games, so I think they'll do things flashier this time. Knowing how Japan likes to be a show off when it comes to technology I bet my horses we'll be seeing a lot of state of the art technological displays (I dare to say maybe even holograms). However I also expect there will be some solemn moments. (In Nagano 98 the anthem was performed by a Gagaku (Court) music band, for example.) Much like China, it's impossible to tell the whole story of Japan in an olympic ceremony, so if they do, I hope they focus on some things like their mythology (Shinto Religion), Edo Period, the Battle of Sekigahara (which was the turning point on where Japan became unified as one under the Tokugawa Shogunate) an Meiji Restoration, for example. I dunno if they should represent the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs. They already did something like that with the final torchbearer in 1964 (a teenager born the same day Enola Gay dropped the bomb) to represent Japan's rebirth, and also in the opening of the 1994 Asiad in Hiroshima I believe they did a short segment about it. I would prefer if they make a representation of the 2011 Earthquake/Tsunami, though, as to show how Japan reconstructed at a fast pace and overcame what was their worst disaster since WWII. Or recreate the horror of 9/11 in stadium theatre? SLC 2002 says hi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshi Posted September 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 If 64 was about the war, & 98 was about simplicity, 20 should be about technology, especially in that futuristic stadium. My fear with that is that it would become tacky, hello kitty-esque, although that is part of Japan's culture so there should be nods to that maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 If 64 was about the war, & 98 was about simplicity, 20 should be about technology, especially in that futuristic stadium. My fear with that is that it would become tacky, hello kitty-esque, although that is part of Japan's culture so there should be nods to that maybe. It's really pointless to worry about anything u can't control or foresee. It will be what it will be. I am just expecting the WORST so that I will be pleasantly surprised in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Mata Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 They actually can mention a thing or two about the 2011 Tohoku Disaster without making it look too tacky of morbid through creative depictions of The Great Wave off Kanagawa: one of the most famous japanese pieces of illustration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 Yeah...something like that /\/\. Like Barcelona had the Mediterranean sea number; then Atlanta had the Thundercloud to signify the Civil War very obliquely. London of course was too chicken-sh*t to even dramatize its greatest moments of the Blitzkreig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshi Posted September 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 That pic is beautiful, hope the look of the games has this style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympiaki-agones Posted September 17, 2013 Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 I'm sure they will reinvent the ceremonies following the traditional Olympic Protocol. They will have something unexpected with manga and animé visions. Maybe in that time holograms will look more realistic and they'll feature an epic story, using only technology without people on scene (opposite on what we saw at Beijing), and totally different on what we'll see in Rio, a colourful carnival. The only think I really hope is that they had the great idea to modify the horrible Olympic Stadium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illustrado Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 Yeah...something like that /\/\. Like Barcelona had the Mediterranean sea number; then Atlanta had the Thundercloud to signify the Civil War very obliquely. London of course was too chicken-sh*t to even dramatize its greatest moments of the Blitzkreig. because is much more deep and subtle to remember the war as moment of (partial) silence rather than a glorification of people dying from falling debris, smoke in inhalation, or running of the mill home being bomb by the nazi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 I'm sure they will reinvent the ceremonies following the traditional Olympic Protocol. They will have something unexpected with manga and animé visions. Maybe in that time holograms will look more realistic and they'll feature an epic story, using only technology without people on scene (opposite on what we saw at Beijing), and totally different on what we'll see in Rio, a colourful carnival. The only think I really hope is that they had the great idea to modify the horrible Olympic Stadium. I predict they'll put manga/anime in either the opening or closing. After all it's impossible not to associate it with Japan's culture as it's worldwide known. In fact i think one of the Tokyo 2016 bid videos had an anime-stylized athlete running through the streets of Tokyo. I would completely love they make a reference to the Great Wave artwork as well for the Japanese art during the Edo Period. Maybe they can make an stage at one side of the stadia on where the orchestra/music performers will be which would be kinda based on Kabuki stages. Kinda like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympiaki-agones Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 I predict they'll put manga/anime in either the opening or closing. After all it's impossible not to associate it with Japan's culture as it's worldwide known. In fact i think one of the Tokyo 2016 bid videos had an anime-stylized athlete running through the streets of Tokyo. I would completely love they make a reference to the Great Wave artwork as well for the Japanese art during the Edo Period. Maybe they can make an stage at one side of the stadia on where the orchestra/music performers will be which would be kinda based on Kabuki stages. Kinda like this: Yeah, so we both agree. Maybe they'll use Shinto Mythology, with no people on scene. Just hi-tech full of SFX giving the atmosphere of being the center of the world like they do in their animé, full of Olympic values. Japanese people like all that, above all when the organizers will be from the 1970s generation to our present day. So, they'll even break national paradigms embracing Japanese contemporary culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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