Actor Nomura Vows to Showcase Recovery at Tokyo Games

July 31, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese kyogen actor Nomura Mansai vowed Tuesday to showcase his country's recovery from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident through the Japanese spirit of "wa" harmony at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

At a press conference, Nomura, 52, who has been named chief executive creative director of the ceremonies, said he will "bend over backward" to make the Tokyo Games "simple yet filled with the wa spirit" and have the events live up to the name of "Reconstruction Olympics and Paralympics."

He said he "felt tense" accepting a big role as the top supervisor for the four ceremonies.

On directing performances at the ceremonies, Nomura said he would like to create something that can easily be understood by watching.

"I'd like to bring excitement to the ceremonies so that they will stand out in the memories of people living in the present," he said.

When asked who he wants to participate in the ceremonies, Nomura smiled and told reporters to "wait and see" until the days of the ceremonies.

Movie director Takashi Yamazaki, who is responsible for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, said he needs to think of a way to deliver the air of excitement at the ceremonies to people who are not present at the scene.

Noting that the Olympic closing ceremony will be held on Aug. 9, which is the day that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the southwestern Japan city of Nagasaki in 1945, Yamazaki, 54, said he hopes to link the ceremony to the anniversary.

Creative director Hiroshi Sasaki, 63, who is responsible for the Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, orchestrated a promotional performance for the 2020 Tokyo Games at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, in which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared dressed as Super Mario.

Sasaki said he feels that he "needs to do something more amazing" at the 2020 Paralympics, adding that he will "aim for another climax" at the event after the Tokyo Olympics. Jiji Press