The exterior of Nippon Budokan in Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward on July 18, 2021. The country has changed vastly from that hopeful moment when the 1964 Summer Games proclaimed a new Japan, and the Olympics this time around have come to represent something different and not entirely positive; Image: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
TOKYO — Under crisp blue skies in October 1964, Emperor Hirohito of Japan stood before a reborn nation to declare the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. A voice that the Japanese public had first heard announcing the country’s surrender in World War II now echoed across a packed stadium alive with anticipation.©2019 New York Times News Service