2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

2020 Summer Olympics
opening ceremony

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Time	20:00 – 23:50 JST (UTC+9)
Date	23 July 2021 (2021-07-23)
Location	Tokyo, Japan
Theme	"Moving Forward: United by Emotion"
Filmed by	OBS on behalf of the Japan Consortium

The opening ceremony of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 23 July 2021 at Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, and was formally opened by Emperor Naruhito. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The vast majority of the artistic spectacle was pre-recorded, with live segments performed with a small VIP audience and performers adhering to social distancing. The ceremony marked the 125th anniversary of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens—the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games. The theme of the Olympic Ceremonies is Moving Forward, referencing the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the opening ceremony theme being the Tokyo 2020 slogan United by Emotion, which the organisers intend to "reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games."

Preparations

January 2017–March 2020: Initial Plans

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) gave the first report of preparations in December 2017, with the release of the "Basic Policy" document for the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. The document was based upon feedback from experts and opinions of the Japanese public and includes the foundational elements for the positioning and overall concept of the four ceremonies. The Olympic opening ceremony is to introduce the themes and concepts of the four ceremonies, including peace, coexistence, reconstruction, the future, Japan and Tokyo, the athletes and involvement.

The opening and closing ceremonies have had three different directors as its chief creative director. Between July 2018 and December 2020, Mansai Nomura, an actor in traditional Japanese theater, was the chief creative director. Normura stepped down from the role as the original ceremony team disbanded. He became an advisor. Between December 2020 and March 2021, Hiroshi Sasaki was chief creative director, until Sasaki resigned after making a derogatory comment about Japanese comedian and fashion icon Naomi Watanabe. The reports came a month after Yoshirō Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, resigned over derogatory comments made about female members of the Committee. Since March 2021 until 22 July 2021, Kentarō Kobayashi was made chief creative director, with Takayuki Hioki, managing director of Sports Branding Japan, promoted to deputy chief ceremonies officer and executive producer.

Marco Balich of Balich Worldwide Shows, is the Senior Adviser to the Executive Producer. Balich was involved as producer of the ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, and has done other international ceremonies such as the 2019 Summer Universiade and the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. In July 2019, he mentioned that his involvement will be in partnership with the Japanese advertising company Dentsu. Dentsu's creative director for these ceremonies, Kaoru Sugano, resigned in January 2020 over harassment claims.

Previous Olympic opening ceremonies in Japan, such as the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Nagano, mixed ancient Japanese cultural elements with themes of international peace. Reports from Inside the Games and Kyodo News in January 2020 suggested that there would be a bigger focus on Japanese technology and its popular culture in this ceremony. At the Rio 2016 closing ceremony, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed up as Mario in the handover segment.

March 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 impact

In February 2020, after announcements concerning scaling back the Tokyo marathon due to the effects of COVID-19, health officials began to question whether the Olympic opening ceremony would also be impacted. On 24 March 2020, the IOC and the Tokyo Organizing Committee officially announced that due to the ongoing pandemic in Japan, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics would be delayed to 2021, and held no later than Summer 2021 (marking the first time that an entire Olympics was postponed). On 30 March 2020, it was announced that the ceremony would take place on 23 July 2021.

In a press release, it was stated that the theme "Moving Forward" would be a reference to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have designed the ceremonies around the concept that the Games can bring fresh hope and encouragement to people around the world through the active appearance of athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Games and via the power of sport", organisers declared. This was expected, as just after the postponement in March 2020, Balich said that the crisis would be mentioned at some point during the ceremony due to its significance at the games.

In December 2020, when Sasaki was named the new chief creative director for the ceremonies, he pointed out that the previous plans were scrapped as it was considered too extravagant, which suggested that it would be simplified and scaled back as per audience expectations.

During organizing talks in late 2020, concerns were raised over who could attend the Opening Ceremony. In July 2021, the organizers agreed that the ceremony would be performed with no live audience, except for competing athletes if they choose to attend, a maximum of six officials for each country's delegation, and invited VIP guests. Much of the artistic and cultural sections of the ceremony will adhere to social distancing guidelines, and the majority of segments will be pre-recorded. Before the announcement of barring spectators was made, ticket prices for the Opening Ceremony were expected to range between ¥12,000 and ¥300,000.

On 14 July 2021, the Organizing Committee announced the creative team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics, and appointed Keigo Oyamada of Cornelius as one of the composers. The appointment prompted criticism on social media due to Oyamada's past bullying of people with apparent disabilities, such as Down syndrome. Omayada admitted the disability abuse in interviews that resurfaced after his appointment. On 16 July, a week before the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which was questioned for insight and good sense, announced their support for him to continue as a composer. Toshirō Mutō, the chief executive of the Organizing Committee, said he wanted Oyamada to remain involved. However, on 19 July, Oyamada formally apologized, resigned and withdrew his music from the ceremony.

On 22 July 2021, the day before the ceremony, Kentarō Kobayashi, the chief creative director of the ceremonies after Sasaki resigned, was fired by the organizing committee for making jokes about the Holocaust in a comedy routine in 1998, and the committee asked for a review of the ceremony content before it was performed. On the eve of the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who serves as the Supreme Advisor and Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, described Kobayashi's Holocaust jokes as "outrageous and unacceptable", but also said that the opening ceremony, prepared and directed by Kobayashi, should proceed as planned.

On 28 July 2021 Shukan Bunshun reported that plans had been made for a more extravagant opening ceremony, involving elements from Nintendo video games, the Akira manga, Japanese pop culture and Lady Gaga. Due to the delay in the Olympic Games and the changing of directors, the previously arranged ceremony content was cut.

Venue

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Japan National Stadium (Olympic Stadium)

The new National Stadium, called Olympic Stadium during the Games, served as the main stadium for the opening ceremony. Demolition of old National Stadium was completed in May 2015. Construction of the new stadium began at the site on 11 December 2016. The stadium was handed over to the IOC on 30 November 2019 for preparations. Had the pandemic not happen, capacity of the stadium during the Olympic Games would have been 60,102, including account press and executive seating areas.

Concept

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Emperor Naruhito and dignitaries in attendance (at Japan National Stadium on 23 July 2021)

"Moving Forward" was the consistent theme for both 2020 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as announced by Tokyo 2020: the ceremonies were linked by the concept of "Moving Forward", a reference to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have designed the ceremonies around the concept that the Games can bring fresh hope and encouragement to people around the world through the active appearance of athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Games and via the power of sport", organisers declared.

"United by Emotion" was the theme song of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, rendered to the melody of "Imagine", as it is the official motto of the 2020 Games.

The Opening and Closing Ceremonies was produced by Takayuki Hioki, having been advised by Marco Balich, who notably executively created the opening of Turin's Winter Olympics in 2006. "In the Opening Ceremony, we will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future", said Tokyo 2020. "We hope it will be an experience that conveys how we all have the ability to celebrate differences, to empathise, and to live side by side with compassion for one another." Although the creative director of the ceremony, Kentarō Kobayashi, was fired on the day before the ceremony due to the past jokes of The Holocaust, the organising committee decided to hold the ceremony how it had been prepared and directed by him.

Proceedings

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Exhibition flight by Blue Impulse

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Opening ceremony (at Japan National Stadium on 23 July 2021)

The event, which was set to last three and a half hours, started at 20:00 JST, featured many sequences of the ceremony which were pre-recorded. As part of the "Moving Forward" theme, many segments involved diverse representation and building or re-building. The titles from this section largely come from the organizers.

Prologue: Where the Stories Begin

On the day of the ceremony, there was an exhibition flight by Blue Impulse, the aerobatics squadron of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. The squadron drew the Olympic Rings over the Tokyo skies, marked the 57th anniversary of the 1964 Games for the first time in Tokyo.

Apart but not Alone

A videotaped montage of Tokyo's recap to hosting the Games began, from awarding the rights in 2013 during the 125th IOC Session, to the hard work and training of the athletes, to the Rio 2016 Olympics, to the qualification of the athletes and then, the chaotic events of 2020 when the world suddenly changed, which caused the athletes to continue training from home via video communication.

The first performance of the ceremony, designed "[showcase] Japan’s forte in digital art and projection mapping technology," featured a digital graphics projection on the stadium floor, at the centre of which nurse and boxer Arisa Tsubata, who won a national championship only two years after taking the sport, however was unable to participate as an athlete after a qualifiying match was cancelled, jogged on a treadmill, then was joined by performers on an exercise cycle, rowing maching, running in place, while performers abstract danced and colored ball of light were projected, "symbolising the athletes’ plight in training during the pandemic for this event." The ceremony opened with dancers wearing white outfits connected by red strings, meant to "portray the inner workings of the body and heart."

A Welcome from the Host

The following act featured Misia, who wore a dress designed "to honour the LGBTQ+ community and symbolise the fight for LGBTQ+ equality" made by openly gay costume designer Tomo Koizumi, singing the National Anthem of Japan. After the National Anthem of Japan was sung, a tribute was paid for those who had died from COVID-19, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and especially for the victims of the Munich 1972 massacre, one year before the 50th anniversary of that massacre. The actor Mirai Moriyama appeared up dressed in white and, after striking a pose of mourning, performed a butō dance in the middle of the stadium, while tenebrous and funereal music played. Subsequently, a moment of silence was observed at the culmination of this section of the ceremony.

A Lasting Legacy

The unveiling of the Olympic Rings, which were made from trees planted from seeds during the 1964 Olympics, followed. It starred tap-dancing performers wearing hanten coats, which were traditionally worn by Edo-era craftspeople and carpenters and evoked Japanese summertime festivals, at which this style of clothing is common, as they built what has either been described as a mock Olympic Village or a matsuri, as the rings were brought while being surrounded by Japanese paper lanterns. A pre-recorded video was shown of Muhammad Yunus receiving the Olympic Laurel award in Bangladesh, because Yunus could not travel to Japan due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in that country.

Here Together

Parade of Nations

Main article: 2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations

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Eritrea at the 2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations

The Parade of Nations with the team delegations marching into the stadium.

Athletes entered the stadium in an order dictated by the Olympic tradition. As the originator of the Olympics, the Greek team entered first. Other teams entered in order of the Gojūon system based on the names of countries in the Japanese language, the first time this happened as previous Olympics held in Japan have used the English language. Following tradition, the delegation from the host nation Japan entered last.

The Refugee Olympic Team, composed of refugees from several countries, was the second nation to enter, after Greece. For the first time ever in the opening ceremony, the countries that will host the next two Olympic Games, France (in 2024) and the United States (in 2028), marched immediately before the host nation Japan entered, instead of entering one-hundred-fifty-fourth (between Brazil and Bulgaria) and seventh (between Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates), respectively, according to the Japanese alphabet order. The names of the teams were announced in French, followed by English and Japanese, the official languages of the Olympic movement and the host nation, in accordance with traditional and International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines.

Each of the signboards displaying the countries' names was written in Japanese on one side and English on the other, enclosed in speech balloons, evoking manga panels, while the signholders' costumes had manga tones.

The athletes themselves attended in low numbers compared to previous Olympics, as out of Team USA's 613 and Australia's 472, only about 200 and 63 attended, respectively.

In their entrances, several teams, including Argentina and Ghana, broke into song, while the Twitter account for the Games pointed out an Eritrean athlete who laid down on the ground, which other athletes had done as well while looking at their phones. As Russia had been banned to partake in sporting events by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Russian athletes marched under the ROC designation and flag. Japan inverted the colours of the uniform they had used in the 1964 Olympics, while France paraded in three rows, representing the tricolor flag. Two flagbearers, Tonga's Pita Taufatofua and Vanautu's Riilio Rii, paraded shirtless and oiled. Noticeably, several members of the Kyrgyz and Tajik delegations as well as the Pakistani flagbearers entered the ceremony maskless. During the parade of nations, Mohamad Maso of Syria was reunited with his brother, Alaa, who represented the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality.

Before the athletes paraded in, a sign inside the stadium pointed out that the athletes should keep social distance between themselves and how far was the entrance as well as the restroom.

In addition, 19 tracks from popular Japanese video game series were also used during the duration of the two hour-long segment, these being:

• Dragon Quest – "Roto's Theme"
• Final Fantasy – "Victory Fanfare"
• Tales of Zestiria – "Sorey's Theme – The Shepherd"
• Monster Hunter – "Proof of a Hero"
• Kingdom Hearts – "Olympus Coliseum"
• Chrono Trigger – "Frog's Theme"
• Ace Combat – "First Flight"
• Tales of Graces – "Royal – Capital Majestic Grandeur"
• Monster Hunter – "Wind of Departure"
• Chrono Trigger – "Robo's Theme"
• Sonic the Hedgehog – "Star Light Zone"
• Pro Evolution Soccer – "eFootball Walk-on Theme"
• Final Fantasy – "Main Theme"
• Phantasy Star Universe – "Guardians"
• Kingdom Hearts – "Hero's Fanfare"
• Gradius – "01 Act I-1"
• Nier – "Song of the Ancients"
• SaGa – "The Minstrel's Refrain: SaGa Series Medley 2016"
• Soulcalibur – "The Brave New Stage of History"

A New Motto and Oath

The Parade of Nations finished with the projection of the "Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together" Olympic slogan in the middle of the stadium floor, between the athletes, which were organized into quadrants after they marched in. A message from Kirsty Coventry, the outgoing chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission was played, introducing the new Olympic Oath with the aim of promoting inclusion and the role of Athletes, Judges and Coaches as ambassadors. The following oath was delivered by 6 participants from the Tokyo delegation:

We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play, inclusion and equality. Together we stand in solidarity and commit ourselves to sport without doping, without cheating, without any form of discrimination. We do this for the honour of our teams, in respect for the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, and to make the world a better place through sport.

Imagine

It was followed by groups of all ages dancing around boxes, which were organized into three circles and then into the Tokyo 2020 logo. Mirroring the previous segment, 1,824 drones made a 3D rendition of the Tokyo Olympic Games logo over the stadium and then the globe of Earth with its continents.

Following this an "emotional montage", featuring a "half-live, half-recorded performance" of "Imagine", composed by John Lennon, was sung by Angélique Kidjo, Alejandro Sanz, John Legend, and Keith Urban, all of whom joined remotely; plus the Suginami Junior Chorus, who was live in the stadium. It was arranged by Hans Zimmer, and had musical support provided by TAIKOPROJECT and the Synchron Stage Orchestra and Stage Choir. "Imagine" had previously appeared at other Olympic ceremonies, including the 1996 closing ceremony, the 2006 opening ceremony, the 2012 closing ceremony, and the 2018 opening ceremony.

Peace Through Sport (Olympic Protocol)

Thomas Bach, IOC president, and Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, then gave speeches. Bach highlighted that "[t]his is the unifyng power of sport," expressed his gratitude to the volunteers and described participating refugee athletes as an “enrichment.” For her part, Hashimoto, was described as having "emotion in her voice as she spoke", with both speeches lasting over a combined nine minutes.

The opening declaration of the 2020 Olympic Games, limited to a prescribed statement of around 17 words, laid down in the Olympic Charter, was made by Emperor Naruhito. Kyodo News quoted a source as confirming that the Emperor would be attending. He was the third Japanese Emperor to open an Olympics, following his grandfather Emperor Hirohito (1964 Summer and 1972 Winter Olympics) and his father Emperor Akihito (1998 Winter Olympics). He is also the honorary patron of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics. After Naruhito declared the Games open, 288 fireworks were set off.

The Olympic Flag then entered the stadium. Many of the flag bearers were both athletes and frontline nurses and doctors during the pandemic. The flag bearers were:

• Asia: Kento Momota, Badminton world No 1
• Oceania: Elena Galiabovitch, shooter and doctor
• Americas: Paula Pareto, judo and physician
• Africa: Mehdi Essadiq, triathlon
• Europe: Paola Ogechi Egonu, volleyball
• IOC Refugee Olympic Team: Cyrille Tchatchet II, weightlifter and Nurse

It was then handed to front line workers from Japan and was raised. The Olympic Hymn was sung in English by the Fukushima Students' Choir.

Finally, doves were projected on the stadium floor, before thousands of paper doves fluttered into the stadium, while a English recording of Susan Boyle performing the Japanese folk song Tsubasa o Kudasai (Wings to Fly) played.

Let the Games Begin & Time to Shine

A video sequence showed the history of the Olympic pictograms had been introduced at the 1964 Olympic Games (also in Tokyo), followed by a live-action recreation of the 50 pictograms used for the events of this Olympic Games. The segment was directed by HIRO-PON (from Gamarjobat)., with the segment being called "a funny, witty performance reminiscent of a typical Japanese TV game show."

Following this, a lighting technician played by the comedian Hitori Gekidan was seen on camera to switch on the lights for several Tokyo and national landmarks across Japan. The Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa was also involved in this sketch.

A performance by Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI, acting out an excerpt from Shibaraku, was accompanied by jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, playing a rendition of her album Spectrum. The segment, "intended to dispel negative energy," symoblised the mixing of both traditional Japanese performing arts and the Japanese affection towards modern jazz.

Hope lights our way

See also: 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay

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The flame, in the bottom right is lit, while fireworks were set off.

The flame was brought into the stadium at the end of the torch relay by wrestler Saori Yoshida and judoka Tadahiro Nomura. It was carried by a trio of Japanese baseball greats (Shigeo Nagashima, Sadaharu Oh, and Hideki Matsui), a doctor and a nurse, paralympian Wakako Tsuchida, and a group of students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures who were born shortly before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Finally Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka carried it up the steps to light the Olympic cauldron; Osaka herself would compete for Japan in the Olympics before being eliminated in the third round of the women's tennis competition. Three hours later the badminton player Ayaka Takahashi lit another cauldron, outside the stadium.

In December 2018, organizers had stated that although the Olympic cauldron would be officially lit and extinguished at the stadium, the flame would be transferred to a separate, public cauldron (following the lead of 2010 and 2016) on the Tokyo riverfront while the Games were in progress, and transferred back to New National Stadium for the closing ceremony. Organizers cited unspecified "physical difficulties" in keeping the flame at the New National Stadium due to fire safety issues. Due to the state of emergency, the cauldron was off-limits to guests and situated outside the Olympic Stadium.

The cauldron was designed by Canadian-Japanese designer Oki Sato, who attended Waseda University, the same university as Yoshinori Sakai, the cauldron-lighter in 1964. The steps to reach the cauldron, symbolizing Mount Fuji, were "designed to evoke the image of a blooming flower."

The music featured in the cauldron lighting included Boléro by Maurice Ravel, "Rise of the Planet 9" from Dr. Copellius, composed by Isao Tomita, followed by the fireworks featuring the music of Takashi Yoshimatsu's Symphony No. 2 "At terra".

Dignitaries in attendance

Even though the stadium had a capacity for 68,000 spectators, only 800 foreign and 150 local officials, who were deemed "Games stakeholders", were in attendance, as well as 3,500 members of the media and 6,000 members of team delegations, totalling 10,400. Even though it is customary for Olympic sponsors to send corporate representatives as well, companies such as Toyota, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, NEC, and Fujitsu, opted out of attending. A scoreboard in the stadium warned the attendees to "Clap, Do not sing or chant,".

Host Dignitaries

• Japan – Emperor Naruhito, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Seiko Hashimoto

Dignitaries from Other Nations

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Dignitaries in attendance (at Japan National Stadium on 23 July 2021)

• Armenia – President Armen Sarksyan
• Australia – Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk
• Bulgaria – Minister of Youth and Sports Andrey Kuzmanov
• Canada – Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough
• China – Director General of the State General Administration of Sports Gou Zhongwen
• Croatia – Former President and member of the International Olympic Committee Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
• Finland – Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen
• France – President Emmanuel Macron
• Greece – Deputy Minister of Culture and Sport Lefteris Avgenakis
• India – Minister of Sports Anurag Thakur
• Italy – Secretary for sports Valentina Vezzali
• Jordan – Prince Faisal bin Hussein
• Kosovo – President Vjosa Osmani
• Lithuania – Vice Minister for Science, Education, and Sport Linas Obcarskas
• Luxembourg – Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
• Monaco – Sovereign Prince of Monaco Albert II, Prince of Monaco
• Mongolia – Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene
• Montenegro – Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić
• Poland – President Andrzej Duda
• San Marino – Captains Regent Gian Carlo Venturini and Marco Nicolini
• Slovenia – Minister for Research, Education and Sport Simona Kustec
• South Korea – Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwang Hee
• South Sudan – Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior
• Switzerland – President Guy Parmelin
• United Kingdom – Minister for Sport Nigel Huddleston
• United States – First Lady Jill Biden

Dignitaries from International organizations

• International Olympic Committee – President Thomas Bach
• United Nations – Former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (attended as the Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission), High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
• World Health Organization – Director-General Tedros Adhanom

Anthems

• National Anthem of Japan – Misia
• Olympic Anthem – Fukushima Students' Choir

Controversies

Main article: Concerns and controversies at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Outside the venue, protesters' oposing the Olympics being run during the pandemic was held in the southwestern corner of the Stadium, timed so that it would coincide with the beginning of the ceremony. The protestors' chant, "Go to hell, IOC," could reportedly be heard inside the stadium.

Another scandal involving musicians was the dropping of the Sengalese-born Japanese percussionist, Latyr Sy, allegedly due to the organizers' reticence in having an "African" in the ceremony. He had been hired in May and had the rehearsal schedule sent to him in April, however, upon enquiring about signing his contract in May, he was informed that his inclusion in the program had been rejected due to his ethnicity. A spokesperson of the organising committee later stated that Sy's claim was completely different from the facts, and said "We had planned a music part in which many singers would participate, but due to infectious disease control and budget, we canceled the part itself. Therefore we canceled the appearance of all the participants in the music part. That is the background of that story."

Ceremony key team

Source:

• Tomoyuki Tanaka, musical director
• Gamarjobat's HIRO-PON, guest appearance
• Kei Shibata
• Kentarō Kobayashi, Opening Ceremony Director
• Mansai Nomura, adviser
• Yuichi Kodama, film director
• Akihiro Fukube
• Akihiro Hamabe
• Hiroshi Nakamura, assistant musical director
• Iguchi
• Junji Kojima, film director
• Keiji Wakabayashi
• Koichiro Tsujikawa, film director
• Marco Balich, senior adviser to the executive producer
• Marihiko Hara, composer
• Masayuki Kagei, composer
• Nami Tomizawa, set designer
• Noboru Tomizawa
• Piera Shepperd, senior adviser to the executive producer
• Seigen Tokuzawa, composer
• Shintaro Hirahara, director of choreography
• Takayuki Hioki, executive producer
• Takayuki Suzuki
• Takuji Higuchi, executive writer
• Toshihiko Sakura
• Tugihisa Tanaka
• Yohei Taneda, scenographer

Reception

The ceremony was panned as being solemn and muted in comparison to previous Olympic ceremonies, with the lack of audience due to the state of emergency being a factor in the atmosphere, to the point that journalist Ian Dunt compared it to attending a funeral. It was also largely panned for being too long, with Japanese reviewers on Yahoo! Japan arguing that Bach's 13 minute speech went far too long, where some athletes laid down during the speech. Japanese Entertainment writer Elizabeth Matsumoto was confused by some elements of the ceremony such as the Matsuri segement, questioning why to focus on carpentry and if the tap dancing was necessary.

Those who understood that the ceremony would be more muted, such as Jen Chaney from Vulture, opined that while it was largely entertaining and showed the perseverance of the human spirit, it also showed the pessimism and difficulties of holding the Summer Olympics during a pandemic, summarizing the theme of the ceremony as asking the question "What exactly are we doing here, and why?"

Some did give positive reviews to the celebratory segments, including a segment featuring dancers re-creating the poses of the Games' pictograms, were more enjoyable. Moreover, some Japanese reviewers felt that Misia performance of the Japanese anthem was excellent and dignified given the difficulties of performing the anthem.

Coverage

Despite wide opposition to the Olympics by residents, the opening ceremony was seen in Japan by at least 73.27 million viewers nationwide, with NHK peaking at a 61% audience share during a segment featuring Miki Maya and at the start of the parade of nations. CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) Yiannis Exarchos stated that the opening ceremony was the most-watched Japanese television broadcast in the last 10 years. Locally, it was reported that the opening ceremony had achieved a 56% audience share in the Kantō region, making it the most-watched television broadcast in the region since the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics.

South Korean broadcaster MBC faced criticism for showing profiles of countries with insensitive or stereotypical facts and images during the parade of nations, such as Italy being represented by a picture of pizza, Portugal being represented by a picture of egg tarts, Romania represented by a picture of Dracula, Ukraine represented by a photo of the Chernobyl disaster, Syria's profile mentioning the Syrian civil war, and Haiti described as having an "unstable political situation due to the assassination of the president". MBC CEO Park Sung-jae apologized for the imagery, stating that the network had "damaged the Olympic values of friendship, solidarity and harmony" with the images, which had been intended to help viewers identify the countries.

In the United States, NBC announced that it would broadcast and stream the opening ceremony live in all time zones, in addition to its traditional tape delayed prime time broadcasts. With a reported 17 million viewers, ratings declined 36% over the 2016 opening ceremony, while streaming viewers were up by 76%. NBC received criticism from the Chinese Consulate in New York for showing a map of China during their entrance that excluded Taiwan (which competes as Chinese Taipei) and claimed territories in the South China Sea.

In Canada, in addition to the main English and French-language broadcasts on CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC simulcast the opening ceremony with streaming broadcasts in the Indigenous languages of East Cree, Dehcho Dene, Dënësųłinë́ Yałtı, Gwichʼin, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Sahtu Dene and Tłı̨chǫ.

List of national broadcasters

• Argentina – TyC Sports and Televisión Pública
• Bolivia – Bolivisión
• Brazil - Globo and SporTV
• Canada – CBC and TSN
• Chile – TVN
• Colombia – Caracol Televisión
• Costa Rica – Repretel
• Cuba – ICRT
• Dominican Republic – Antena 7
• Ecuador – RTS
• El Salvador – Canal 12
• Guatemala – Chapín TV
• Honduras – VTV (Honduras)
• Indonesia – TVRI
• Mexico – Televisa, Azteca Deportes and Imagen Televisión
• Nicaragua – Canal 10
• Paraguay – SNT
• Peru – ATV
• Philippines - One Sports
• Portugal - RTP, EuroSport
• United Kingdom - BBC One
• United States – NBCUniversal
• Uruguay – TNU and Tenfield

Source:

External links

• News related to 2020 Olympics opening ceremony takes place in Tokyo at Wikinews