What I've learned

The closing ceremony is just a few hours away and I am in the basement of the Olympic Stadium, having just arrived via the media transport. They advised leaving the media center early, so I took the advice and here I sit in the venue media center.

As I prepare to leave Japan tomorrow, I thought I’d point out some of the things I’ve learned about Japan while I was here.

First, there are a lot of bikes. Everywhere you look, there are people riding bikes. Men dressed in suits and ties with their briefcase in a basket. Women in skirts and their hair up with bags in the basket. Mothers and fathers with children in seats in the back (or in some cases, the front). There are bikes everywhere and it seems it is the way to get around. From what I have come to understand, it’s hard finding parking for cars in Tokyo, and if you do find it, it’s expensive, so bikes are the way to go. There are even dedicated bike parking spots in the entrances to buildings and around the city.

The second thing may tie into the first thing a bit, as the city seems very accessible to bikers or walkers. There are a lot of walkways crossing over roads or bridges spanning rivers dedicated to just walkers or bikers. The sidewalks are divided in two, one half for people walking and one half for people riding bikes. I was able to go from the media center to the plaza across the street without worrying about a single bit of traffic, as I simply walked over the street in the walkway. The subway is also elevated, so many of those stops are served by the walkways.

Third, the people are very friendly. It seemed that every face I ran into, although they were almost all masked, were seemingly smiling and friendly. There was plenty of help finding the way to a venue, to an exit or to a bus. The many volunteers and staff along the way were ready to help and did so in as friendly a way as I could imagine. Yes, it’s true many in Japan didn’t want the Olympics here (I saw one protest, two days ago), but the people working the Olympics were more than friendly to those of us who were here to cover the Games.

Fourth, as I’ve stated before, it is hot and it is humid. The Japanese people are probably pretty used to it, as it doesn’t seem to phase them much. I was sweating more than I care to admit just walking from the bus to the hotel or from the bus to a venue. I will never take air conditioning for granted again.

And finally, I’ve learned that it would be nice to come back here someday, some day when there isn’t a global pandemic and things are a bit more relaxed.

Traffic, as viewed from one of the many walkways over the busy Tokyo streets.