A Brainstorming of Ideas Related to the Olympics? Part 2

 Part 2 related brainstorming and the Tokyo Olympics has taken a while to get going. As I didn't want my own bias or influences too much to be in the blog. 

The plan was to write something almost everyday during the Olympics. And at the same time, there is so much being written about the Olympics I felt it was kind of redundant to write what everyone else has already said.

But never the less, I will add some comments or ideas here related to the Olympics.

As I continue to write about the Japanese economy from outside Japan, it would have been nice to be in Japan to write about it and the Olympics.

After having traveled to Japan on and off for 22+ years before the pandemic I still have a good feel, or a little, about what is going on there.

And as I have contacts there it helps that I constantly talk to them about certain things that are happening.

The idea that maybe the Olympics would or should have been cancelled is probably still in some people's minds. And with good reason as the virus cases continue to increase.

Is it the result of the Olympics with over 90,000 Olympic related visitors? Yes, no, maybe.

But here is an example of maybe not. In a country neighboring Japan, where I am at the virus cases have exploded almost at the same time as the cases have done in Japan, and of course there is not an Olympics taking place, no large infusion of foreigners or travelers into the country.

So we can't say exactly that the Olympics has been the main cause of the virus spikes in Japan.

As we can see in many places around the world the virus variants have exploded.

So what about the Olympics? Well Japan seems to be extremely well. But I am for all the athletes in the Olympics. 

I really am not concerned with who wins, as I want to see everyone have the best performance that they can do. 

That might go against some people's ideas of nationalism and winning medals but for me the Olympics is about the human spirit and someone reaching new heights, as we can see now over and over everyday in the games.

For whatever reason, this Olympics, more than past Olympics, has brought out the best in the Olympians with their out of this world performances in almost every discipline.

Maybe its the delay of one year, maybe its the chance to finally do what they have trained so hard to do, maybe it the new technology in clothes, shoes, and even new training methods, the results have been incredible.

Unfortunately, this Olympics has brought to the forefront the ideas of mental health issues. Of course Osaka, the Japanese tennis player, was the first to openly talk about it or the first that main stream media finally began to take it seriously.

And unfortunately it has always been there, but no one talked about it or thought it was important.

And now with social media the athletes are exposed to even more pressure, from some who have no idea what the Olympics are really about. 

Its unfortunate that some people take the games too seriously. And they are, while some people, and some organizations, and countries might not agree, they are just games, a gathering of the world's best in each discipline to reach new heights never before accomplished.

Have a nice day and be safe out there!