Name: Tokyo Experience Outside the Olympic Bubble | Summer 2021 Story ★ ONLY in JAPAN
Uploaded: 2021-09-26T03:43:11.000Z
Duration: 19 min 40 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

(John Daub): So here we are in Tokyo during the Olympics

Adverbs of degree

It's been a pretty surreal experience for the host city and for its residents.

The streets have been pretty quiet throughout.

The Olympic athletes and the international press

There are no spectators at any of the venues.

There are some things to see and do in the city of Tokyo during the Olympics.

There are several other monuments all around the city that have lit up

Down the street there's an exhibit open to the public that I'm going to show you.

I'm going to be having my own Olympic event as well by climbing a mountain.

And this is what it was like to live through the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in summer 2021.

John: Tonight is the closing ceremony for the Olympic Games, August 8.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Stadium, where the closing ceremony and the events have been taking place

which is a fitting ending for an unusual two weeks living in the host city at this time.

I came here during the opening ceremony to see how much of that I could really take in.

The Olympic Stadium sits on the exact spot as the 1964 National Stadium

and has become one of the symbols of Tokyo.

On arrival, in front of the Olympic Museum, I was surprised at how many other people

turned up to try to catch some of the feeling

John: I'm just a short bicycle ride from the stadium and, like me,

most people here live locally and didn't have to travel very far.

Some media were here after completing their 14 day quarantine earlier this month.

Tokyo police officers did a good job reminding people to stay safe with masks and distancing.

Media with passes trickled into the stadium checkpoints.

Hundreds of busses dropped off athletes and volunteers parking on

Aoyama Avenue outside the stadium towards the Imperial Palace.

I was in the very front with the hope of seeing some fireworks,

an Olympic torch runner, or even an athlete procession.

Spectators were banned from going inside the stadium

and this was as close as someone like me could get.

Some who came had the local broadcast going so we could see what was going on inside.

I did feel it was worth it to come and feel close

to an important moment in the history of my city.

The new National Stadium is just one of the many things

we could see and experience during the summer games.

Around Tokyo Bay at Odaiba the venues had no spectators

but in the center sat the Olympic cauldron.

Many with the international media broadcasted from the balcony of the Hilton hotel.

The Olympic rings in the bay offering the best skyline backdrop for on-air scenes.

Passing Rainbow Bridge at Harumi is the athlete's village.

This is one of the things we could see from a distance.

A new tradition started recently in the last Olympics:

decorating the balconies and floors with the national flags, colors, and spirit.

I'd waited for years to see this area come to life

and despite the fortifications, locals could come

and take a look at our guests' residences inside of the bubble.

Many of Tokyo's bridges and towers were decked out in Olympic-colored LEDs.

The accent on the city skyline was impossible to miss,

especially the 634-meter high Tokyo Skytree.

At Asakusa, just in front of Sensoji Temple's Kaminarimon gate,

the games blended with Tokyo's historic neighborhood.

Up on the first deck we see the Olympic rings,

a sight I may never seen again in my lifetime.

Seeing this brought back a lot of emotion for those around for the 1964 games

and have witnessed the changes the city has gone through for the fast-paced half century.

Back in Odaiba, as the sun set, the Olympic rings lit up daily at 7pm.

Most days offered colors in the sky as Tokyo switched on the lights.

It's the perfect place for taking in the beauty of the city

A 15 minute walk from here sat the Olympic cauldron on display

A beautiful design with a lot of symbolism of unity.

It was quietly moved during the middle of the night

after Naomi Osaka lit it at the opening ceremony.

It was a popular attraction to visit for locals and visiting media.

It was sometimes a little crowded so signs telling people

to stay distant reminded us of the times we lived in.

I heard the best time to visit was in the middle of the night

Shifting back to Nihonbashi where I opened this episode in the heart of the city.

The rings here were a chance to snap a selfie

but there's a lot more in this neighborhood than just this.

Down Chuo Avenue a little ways was the Olympic Agora exhibit.

Open and free to the public with an online reservation code to prevent overcrowding.

A 10 meter high gold medal in the entrance of the Mitsui Tower.

I'm not sure if it's real gold, but what do you think?

This called, Solidarity and Collaboration, with Makoto Tojiki in Fukutoku Garden.

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Tokyo Experience Outside the Olympic Bubble | Summer 2021 Story ★ ONLY in JAPAN

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