Current time in Tokyo: July 23, 9:00 p.m.
July 23, 2021, 7:59 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:59 a.m. ET
Why is Uganda entering after Indonesia, when this is meant to be done in alphabetical order? Because they come in <according to the alphabet of the host country|https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/sports/olympics/order-of-nations.html>.
July 23, 2021, 7:55 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:55 a.m. ET
Ukraine is really going for the casual vibe: shorts and what look like souvenir T-shirts.
July 23, 2021, 7:55 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:55 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Russia update: A revised list says the team will come out 77th out of the 206 nations. Currently we are up to 24.
July 23, 2021, 7:53 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:53 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Yes, Victor: You have to wonder what athletes are thinking as they walk into this empty stadium. They look disappointed, like they expected to get a puppy for their birthday but got an ugly sweater instead.
July 23, 2021, 7:52 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:52 a.m. ET
Israel looks very featching in form-fitting T-shirts. These are athletes, not members of a yacht club!
July 23, 2021, 7:50 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:50 a.m. ET
Giorgio Armani designed the Italian team’s formal outfits, as he has every Olympics since 2012, which are officially part of his EA7 Emporio Armani line. The uniforms can look pretty dull, it’s true, especially in the giant arenas where these ceremonies are held, but most of them are chock-full of subtle or even hidden symbolism that mean a lot to the athletes and make all sorts of references to the time and city of the Games.
This year’s version is a pretty good case in point.
For example: The jackets — which are all made of recycled polyester, which may be a trend of these Games — are white, to represent “purity in sport” (that’s according to Armani).
The opening verse of the Italian national anthem, generally known as Fratelli d’Italia, or Brothers of Italy, after the first line, is actually written on the inside lining of each one.
And the graphics symbolize the Japanese flag, done in the Italian tricolor.
That’s fashion diplomacy for you.
July 23, 2021, 7:47 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:47 a.m. ET
If some of this music sounds vaguely familiar, but from where? They’re orchestrated video-game themes.
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The athletes are waving at the crowd, as if there actually were a crowd here. You have to feel for them. It’s their big moment and the big cheers they might expect are missing.
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Finally a little energy from the Argentinian contingent.
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:46 a.m. ET
And just as I type that, here comes Aruba, mixing things up with some nice oceanic silk screening.
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
Many of the athletes are taking selfie videos of themselves as they walk in to the stadium. If you can’t see it live, you can see it on social media.
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
I never understand why designers of OC looks always think athletes should look as if they work for an airline or are about to go eat lunch in the local country club. But I am not sure if I have ever seen so many navy blazers in one place.
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The two people, a man and a woman, holding Argentina’s flag look like they are fighting for control over it. Or maybe the man is playing keep away from the woman? But give the Argentinian contigent of athletes an A+ for jumping and dancing as they walk into the stadium. They are trying to get the party started.
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:45 a.m. ET
Interesting fact about Iceland: it last won an Olympic medal, in handball, in 2008.
July 23, 2021, 7:44 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:44 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The many volunteers on the arena floor are going to be exhausted after tonight. They are clapping and dancing as the athletes arrive in the stadium and need to keep moving to keep some energy in the stadium going. Usually the crowd roars as each nation is announced. Not this time.
July 23, 2021, 7:41 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:41 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Outside, the anti-Olympics protest is loud enough and the streets are quiet enough that the sounds of bullhorns and whistles are echoing off the walls of the stadium. One protest banner can be roughly translated as, “Stop the five rings.”
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
I am liking those Iceland looks. Very nice color fade.
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
I feel like I am watching a Dr. Seuss musical with the pastel greeters.
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
I love the parade of athletes; it’s always the most fun part of the opening ceremony.
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:40 a.m. ET
Let the Olympic runway show begin! Because isn’t that what this is?
July 23, 2021, 7:39 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:39 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The athletes begin to arrive. The parade is scheduled to last (checks notes) two hours! First up is Greece, the home of the first Games in 776 BC.
July 23, 2021, 7:37 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:37 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
This bit is also on video. No doubt for pandemic-related reasons, there is much more video and less live action this time around.
July 23, 2021, 7:36 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:36 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The members of an orchestra are a lot like athletes, right? That’s the premise of the next section of the show.
July 23, 2021, 7:35 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:35 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Muhammad Yunus, who helped develop microfinance, is awarded the “Olympic Laurel” (via video). Wonder how that stacks up with his, um, Nobel Prize.
July 23, 2021, 7:33 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:33 a.m. ET
What Victor describes captures exactly what this last year and a half has been like, most of us at home, watching things on screens that remind us of what it was like to be out among crowds. Life going on, sort of, as we all watch from afar. These Games are trying to capture some sense of that, that we can still find connections during scary and lonely times.
July 23, 2021, 7:32 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:32 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Those Hanten are worn in modern times for summer festivals.
July 23, 2021, 7:30 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:30 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Acrobatic carpenters are now rolling out five large wooden circles. What could those possibly turn into? No prize if you guessed the Olympic rings.
July 23, 2021, 7:29 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:29 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Previous directors of the ceremony have acknowledged that their most important audience is the millions and millions watching on TV, not the tens of thousands in the stadium. That is even more true this year, as each performance ends to some tepid applause from a handful of media and volunteers. Hopefully, those at home aren’t noticing the difference all that much.
July 23, 2021, 7:29 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:29 a.m. ET
Officially, the carpenter costumes reference Hanten jackets, worn during the Edo period.
July 23, 2021, 7:28 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:28 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Without explicitly mentioning it, the lone dancer on the platform at the center of the oval with waves of light circling around the stadium during the moment of silence evoked the victims of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
July 23, 2021, 7:27 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:27 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Looks like they are building platforms for a summer festival, with a soundtrack of Taiko drums.
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
These are pretty fancy carpenter’s outfits.
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
This is vigorous and fun. An early highlight.
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:26 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
It’s time for a salute to … woodworking? Yes, there are dancers dressed as carpenters and the sound of their tools blends into tap dancing.
July 23, 2021, 7:25 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:25 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The announcer is asking people to take a moment to acknowledge all the people who died during the coronavirus pandemic and those who have died during the Olympic Games. She then mentioned the murders at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, when terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage and 11 members of the team were killed. A moment of silence followed.
July 23, 2021, 7:24 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:24 a.m. ET
A lot of modern interpretative dance going on during this ceremony.
July 23, 2021, 7:23 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:23 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
Holding these Games during the pandemic has been highly unpopular among a broad portion of the Japanese public — including the several hundred who are gathered just across the street from Olympic Stadium. They are chanting and blowing whistles in protest, and the stadium is quiet enough that they are clearly audible during quiet moments of the ceremony.
July 23, 2021, 7:22 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:22 a.m. ET
I walked all the way around the main concourse ahead of the show and what did I see? Virtually nothing!
The news media has been consigned to one corner of the stadium, with print reporters working at tables and television reporters doing their live shots in the adjacent sections. Security guards milled around, looking bored. Photographers gathered in a few areas, chilling in the seats while they waited for the ceremony to begin. Ticket turnstiles, which would have ushered in more than 60,000 spectators in prepandemic times, sit unused.
From my seat, the stands don’t appear completely empty, though, because the arena’s seating is a motley collection of dark green, white and light green, presumably a design decision to make it look as if empty seats are occupied by people. Trust me: They are not.
July 23, 2021, 7:20 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:20 a.m. ET
That is some dress on the singer Misia. She looks sort of like a cross between a super-swan and a cloud.
July 23, 2021, 7:20 a.m. ET
July 23, 2021, 7:20 a.m. ET
reporting from Tokyo
The singer of the national anthem of Japan is dressed in a gown whose skirt reminds me of kakigori — shaved ice. And the pace is the solemn mood we were promised by the organizing committee’s president, Seiko Hashimoto.