At surreal Olympics, a careful dance to push Tokyo tourism

By CLAIRE GALOFARO
AP National Writer

TOKYO (AP) — The tour bus arrived after nightfall at the closed museum’s back door. Its passengers climbed out with reflective yellow bands dangling from their media credentials so they could be easily identified as journalists in quarantine for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The couple dozen in attendance had won a lottery to attend this after-hours tour of the museum that chronicles the city’s evolution from small fishing village to world-class Olympic host. They were ushered through the back door and into the otherwise-empty exhibition.

The guide tried to put a positive spin on things.

“It is open only for you,” she beamed. “You are VIPs.”

But really, the point of the nighttime visit was to keep attendees as far away from locals as possible.

Olympics host cities often offer the thousands of journalists excursions to advertise their tourist destinations. But this time around, they are attempting to do so with a smaller group while keeping Olympic visitors within a carefully controlled bubble, cut off from Tokyo’s 14 million residents.

The attendees of the “escorted and controlled tour” program had signed a pledge: No straying from the tour. No talking to residents. The consequence of breaking the rules: possible deportation.

The first stop had been the 400-year-old Hama-rikyu Gardens on the edge of Tokyo Bay. About 600 people had visited that day. Then they closed the park, the locals went out and they let the outsiders in.

The sun was setting and the tour guide pointed out a perfect place for pictures of the quintessential Japanese scene: gleaming skyscrapers jutting up behind the garden’s pine trees carefully trained to bend as bonsais.

Then the guide ushered the group back to the bus. The gardener stood at the massive stone gate waving goodbye, as Japanese custom is to wish guests farewell until they turn out of sight.

The bus steamed onto the expressway, where tolls had been raised to discourage local drivers in order to accommodate Olympians. It wound into a residential neighborhood where the sidewalks were mostly empty as Tokyo’s residents, suffering another surge of the virus, are restricted to slow its spread.

It arrived at the museum in the dark. There, the journalists wandered the empty hall alone. Many trained their cameras on an exhibit about the 1964 Olympics, held less than two decades after World War II. At that opening ceremony, 8,000 white pigeons were released as a symbol of peace.

Now the games are here again, though less celebratory: In the world around them, a virus has killed more than 4 million.

The tour left through the back door, and the bus returned them safely back to the Olympic bubble.

———

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

SportsPlus

Local News

Family fabric: Quilting exhibition offers insight to generations of storytelling, culture and artistry

life

McNeese president’s honor list announced for fall 2024 semester

life

Walls can talk: Artist says art is essence of humanity

McNeese Sports

Selling a winning pitch

Local News

House committee address citizen concerns over carbon sequestration in Louisiana

Jim Beam

Jim Beam column:Don’t worry. Trump is fixer

Local News

Mayor talks progress, what’s ahead for the city

Local News

EMS Academy, Acadian Ambulance will be offering EMT classes in LC

Local News

City Council candidates for District C state their views

Local News

Capstone at the Oaks senior living complex nearing completion

Local News

FBI says it found 2,400 new JFK assassination records

McNeese Sports

Baseball Preview: Putting pieces in place

McNeese Sports

Shumate rallies Cowboys by ETAM

Business

Trump raises tariffs on aluminum and steel to 25%

Crime

Sheriff issues warrant for Texas man accused of theft

Local News

Parish facility management team strengthening building infrastructure

Crime

LC woman killed in crash with intoxicated driver

Local News

If FEMA didn’t exist, could states handle the disaster response alone?

life

Program uses locally grown produce to help students with healthier eating habits

Crime

2/10: Calcasieu Parish Sheriff announces arrest list

Local News

Trump says he has directed US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost

Local News

Eagles deny Chiefs a three-peat

Local News

Trump says he is serious about Canada becoming 51st state

Business

Names in the News: People shaping the future of Lake Area business