Tokyo 2020 Handover

[Tatsh]

Maybe a segment related to pokemon go will be seen. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/20/pokemon-go-could-feature-during-rio-closing-ceremony-where-team/

[hektor]

This handover will mark the beginning of a 8-year Asian era for the Olympics. Next time the Games will be out of Asia will be 2024.

[olympiaki-agones]

Tokyo 2020 seems to be great in terms of organization. Elizabeth II open the gate for polititians perfomances.

[Sir Rols]

4 hours ago, hektor said:

This handover will mark the beginning of a 8-year Asian era for the Olympics. Next time the Games will be out of Asia will be 2024.

The good thing about that is I get ringside seats - timezone-wise - for the next three games.

[phandrosis]

Here are the details of the closing:

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/08/22/olympics/summer-olympics/rio-passes-olympic-flag-tokyo-super-abe-closing-ceremony/#.V7pfY5iLShc

Quote

 Tokyo took center stage as Rio de Janeiro handed over the Olympic flag to the 2020 host city at a rain-lashed but joyous closing ceremony for the Rio Games on Sunday.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, wearing a light-colored kimono, took the flag from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach before a handover ceremony that showcased Japan’s technology and presented Tokyo as a city of festivals and waterways.

Tokyo gave an eight-minute presentation at a wet and sparsely attended Maracana Stadium as Rio prepared to bring the curtain down on the first Olympic Games ever to be held in South America.

The show, produced by the stage directors for pop group Perfume, among others, began with a giant Japanese flag before Nintendo video game character Mario appeared on the stadium’s screens and a large green pipe was pushed onto the stage.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emerged from the pipe holding a red ball, before a gymnastics team from Aomori University interacted with computer-generated imagery to show off Japan’s technology to the world.

Abe then handed the ball to two-time double Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, ending Japan’s segment to loud cheers from the crowd.

 

[Bezzi]

I was expecting a boring handover but was very cool. Can't wait for Tokyo now.

[gamesnz]

It was pretty cool. I hope they stick with the futuristic team, because Japanese traditional culture tends to be boring to watch.

[Ikarus360]

The handover blew me away, I won't lie, it greatly surpassed my expectations. Looks like Japan really wants to go all out this time for their Olympics and preferred to shown what really made them known and famous around the world instead of depending on traditional culture like the very criticized Nagano ceremonies. I hope they keep this theme for 2020.

Now I wouldn't be surprised if they hire a famous mangaka/group of japanese artists to make the olympic mascot, seeing they don't want to shy away at all from Anime. 

[baron-pierreIV]

Sort of what I dreaded -- a very COLD,unemotional segment -- Japan trying so hard to prove it's a high-tech nation.  Duh!  Best moment of the Handover, Prime Minister Abe as Super Mario, obviously a copy of the QE2 moment in London's Opening.  Glad it went by so quickly.   Don't have high hopes for the 2018 and 2020 ceremonies. 

[zigzag]

4 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Sort of what I dreaded -- a very COLD,unemotional segment -- Japan trying so hard to prove it's a high-tech nation.  Duh!  Best moment of the Handover, Prime Minister Abe as Super Mario, obviously a copy of the QE2 moment in London's Opening.  Glad it went by so quickly.   Don't have high hopes for the 2018 and 2020 ceremonies. 

So do you prefer to see a ancient Japan ceremony rather than the modern one we see earlier?

[Ikarus360]

50 minutes ago, zigzag said:

So do you prefer to see a ancient Japan ceremony rather than the modern one we see earlier?

This. And I think they're already aware the ancient Japan theme tanked badly in Nagano since pretty much no one remembers those ceremonies.  I think we might still see it in 2020 though more subtle. I predict they will do a more modern approach now that this handover has been so far very well received everywhere.

Being a nerd for japanese culture, of course I was literally excited by the use of videogames/anime on it. Latin America is known for having a very huge Otaku fandom (in return, Japan seems to like hispanic culture a lot, specially Spain). 

[LatinXTC]

1 hour ago, zigzag said:

So do you prefer to see a ancient Japan ceremony rather than the modern one we see earlier?

You can have a good balance of both. The only thing is you can't have too much of one or the other or else it misses. Take a look at Beijing's opening ceremony. So much ancient culture in those, a bit too much to be honest. And although everything was so beautifully done, I found  the whole ceremony completely soulless. They had absolutely no idea how to have fun with the ceremony. A damn shame too because I loved their handover ceremony and felt the opening ceremony greatly missed having all that wonderful energy from the handover.

But I see the Japanese as having a more relaxed and fun personality than the Chinese so I can see them pulling off a good mixture of both. I'm concerned that there might be too many similarities in Japan and China's history that a lot of it could feel been there done that. But I am hopeful that Japan will have no problems with delivering us a great ceremony.

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, zigzag said:

So do you prefer to see a ancient Japan ceremony rather than the modern one we see earlier?

Perhaps if done by a western choreographer or director, so it's freed of the deadly pace of traditional Japanese theatre.  The Japanese arrival section in the Rio opening was quite exciting -- so something like that.  Or as I had previously pointed out, the PyeongChang Handover segment in the 2014 Paralympics was exquisite vs. the regular Handover section.  

[LatinXTC]

4 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Perhaps if done by a western choreographer or director, so it's freed of the deadly pace of traditional Japanese theatre.  The Japanese arrival section in the Rio opening was quite exciting -- so something like that.  Or as I had previously pointed out, the PyeongChang Handover segment in the 2014 Paralympics was exquisite vs. the regular Handover section.  

I'll have to check out that paralympic handover. I mostly ignore the paralympic ceremonies since they never have the budget of the regular ones. Might as well start checking all past paralympic ones while waiting for the next Olympics, which is in Pyeongchang.

[bythebay]

2 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Sort of what I dreaded -- a very COLD,unemotional segment -- Japan trying so hard to prove it's a high-tech nation.  Duh!  Best moment of the Handover, Prime Minister Abe as Super Mario, obviously a copy of the QE2 moment in London's Opening.  Glad it went by so quickly.   Don't have high hopes for the 2018 and 2020 ceremonies. 

 

You say it was COLD, I say it was COOL. I don't think Japan has anything to prove when it comes to being high tech, people all over the world for decades have been aware of Japan being at the forefront of technology. Japanese people for the most part are very unemotional, the polar opposite of Brazil's fun loving, passionate, and upbeat culture so I didn't expect them to portray something they weren't.

They had two angles to showcase their culture, and that was either the traditional route, or the modern route and I'm glad they chose the modern route. They played to their strengths and highlighted what the world is familiar with Japanese pop culture. Mario is arguably the most famous video game character ever created and it was nice to see them play that 1 up (pun intended).

While the segment didn't exactly show anything groundbreaking, I was very entertained and I thought everything oozed a very cool Japan from the music, the set pieces, the costumes, the dancing, the choreography, to all the pop culture references. I think of Japan and Korea to be culturally similar almost like the US and Canada, but Tokyo delivered a high energy show that had a totally different feel from Pyeongchang's very dull ceremony. 

[kevzz]

Woke up this morning, straight to BBC iPlayer and scroll to the handover segment. It was brilliant, really love the energy and humour. All very Japanese and the music was great. The best handover ceremony for me ever. I love how Japanese show their sense of humour with Abe as Mario. Definitely looking forward to Tokyo in four years time. They are a passionate country and will expect full stadium, the Japanese will fill the stadium as they will see it as their patriotic duty. 

[JMarkSnow2012]

5 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Sort of what I dreaded -- a very COLD,unemotional segment -- Japan trying so hard to prove it's a high-tech nation.  Duh!  Best moment of the Handover, Prime Minister Abe as Super Mario, obviously a copy of the QE2 moment in London's Opening.  Glad it went by so quickly.   Don't have high hopes for the 2018 and 2020 ceremonies. 

In the past, you've stated that the music is "entirely auxiliary"- but the whole of this CC, including the handover, has demonstrated the falsity of that claim.

Without the music, the handover would indeed have been "COLD" but with it, as Bythebay noted, it became COOL.

[Lord David]

A good handover ceremony. The joke with Rio and MaRio, as well as the Prime Minister posing as Mario or becoming him thanks to that red ball.

Surprised there wasn't any Pokemon or even Pokemon GO references, perhaps the video pointing out the Rio mascots are NOT Pokemon!

A good look for things to come. Bring on a high tech ceremonies, we all know Japan's culture and past, let's see something futuristic for a change.

[baron-pierreIV]

7 hours ago, bythebay said:

 

You say it was COLD, I say it was COOL. I don't think Japan has anything to prove when it comes to being high tech, people all over the world for decades have been aware of Japan being at the forefront of technology. Japanese people for the most part are very unemotional, the polar opposite of Brazil's fun loving, passionate, and upbeat culture so I didn't expect them to portray something they weren't.

 

 

 

 

PRECISELY.  So attack from another angle.  That fact is redundant.  

But this is THEATRE -- you are trying to pass on a message that Tokyo will have heart, FIRE and PASSION  to welcome the Games again, to support the Games again.  Going by your reasoning, then why should one bother to get excited by Tokyo 2020 if the people hosting it are cold, unemotional and unexcited about it???  Sorry, I don't buy that justification for it being a cold, corporate-like, dispassionate segment, full of kitschy gimmicks.  It's like those glass and chrome coffee tables; I despise those.  The whole segment was just too Tron-like for me--nothing fuzzy or human or tactile about it.     

Edited August 22, 2016 by baron-pierreIV

[Ikarus360]

7 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Perhaps if done by a western choreographer or director, so it's freed of the deadly pace of traditional Japanese theatre.  The Japanese arrival section in the Rio opening was quite exciting -- so something like that.  Or as I had previously pointed out, the PyeongChang Handover segment in the 2014 Paralympics was exquisite vs. the regular Handover section.  

Shina Ringo was the choreographer for the handover (she did many J-Pop music videos). Also the Pyeongchang handover in the paralympics was slighty better than the Olympics one. I mentioned having a lot of space could be either a good or bad thing because of PC. They had lots of space and didn't used it well at all, almost focusing only in projections and music numbers

Oh, btw, for those who want to rewatch the Handover:

 

[kevzz]

I love the moment when PM Abe mouthed Tokyo energetically before he passed the ball to the chap next to him. The PM really comes off well in this presentation!

[kevzz]

There's such a glint in his eyes that shows confidence and positivity in hosting the Games, just what we need now!

[Ikarus360]

http://www.advertimes.com/20160822/article232304/

These were the people involved in the handover

Creative team

Creative supervisor
Sasaki, Hiroshi
Creative supervisor + music director
Shiina Ringo
General director + dance performance choreographed
MIKIKO
Creative Director
Kaoru Kanno

 

Production team

Chief video director
Yuichi Kodama
Chief Art Director
Beach Akihiro
Chief creative production producer
Kohei Ai
Creative production producer video producer
Mamoru Inagaki
Chief Technical Director media artist
Daito Manabe
Chief copywriter
Emi Ota
Creative production producer + production assistant
Sakiko Yasue
Chief Technical Director + hardware engineers
Motoi Ishibashi
Video producer
Masato Sato
Video / Technical Producer
Takahiko Kashima
Music producer
Toshiyuki Sato
Art designer
Yukio Horio
Stage production
Hideyuki Otomo
Costume
Shinichi Mita, Ochiai HiroshiMakoto, Kumiko Iijima
Costumes
Toshihiko Sakurai
Make-up and hair design
Konishi Kamishi
Fireworks production
Nobuhiro Ikehata
Stage manager
Mitsuo Goto
Floor director
Keizo Ohata
System director
Yasuhiro Yamaguchi
Illumination designer
Okayama Teiji

[bythebay]

2 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

PRECISELY.  So attack from another angle.  That fact is redundant.  

But this is THEATRE -- you are trying to pass on a message that Tokyo will have heart, FIRE and PASSION  to welcome the Games again, to support the Games again.  Going by your reasoning, then why should one bother to get excited by Tokyo 2020 if the people hosting it are cold, unemotional and unexcited about it???  Sorry, I don't buy that justification for it being a cold, corporate-like, dispassionate segment, full of kitschy gimmicks.  It was just too Tron-like for me.     

 

I think labeling an Olympic ceremony as "theatre" is putting it in too small of a box. Artistic in nature yes, but I would rather call it a "showcase", whether it be historical, cultural, artistic, or popular culture, it's all relevant when it comes to showcasing a nation. In that sense, I think Japan succeeded to show the world what most people love about Japan in the modern era. Leaving out traditional elements in their show was a good decision in order to stand out from Beijing's ceremonies.

What Japanese people lack in emotion, they make up for in style, ingenuity and technical abilities. Like I said, they played to their strengths. You can't expect a break dancer to express their abilities the same way as a ballet dancer. Japan just happens to be the breakdancer, lacking in grace and artistry but not in showmanship and what they did was entertain their audience. If that's not your cup of tea you're entitled to that but again, what to you was cold, to me was cool so to each their own.

[baron-pierreIV]

3 minutes ago, bythebay said:

 . . . to each their own.

 

Exactly.  I always just state my case.  I never presume to speak for others.  But if my mine happens to be the right view, then that's not my fault.