Armand Duplantis will represent Sweden in the pole vault.
Credit: © Denis Kuvaev, Shutterstock

The legendary torch was lit in Olympia, Greece, in March 2020 and has been kept safe for over a year awaiting the delayed start of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The games officially begin after the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23, 2021. The ceremony takes place at the Olympic Stadium, which was rebuilt on the site of the stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The theme of the ceremony—“United by Emotion”—points to sport as a connection for people around the world, even during a pandemic.

Margielyn Didal of the Philippines will compete in the new street skateboarding event.
Credit: © Cheng Min, Xinhua/Alamy Images

To keep athletes and Tokyo residents safe, spectators will not be allowed to attend the events and additional safety measures have been put in place. Much of the ceremony was pre-recorded, to decrease the number of people present. Athletes and support staff—including coaches and trainers—were tested for COVID-19 before and after arriving in Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not require athletes to be vaccinated, but they estimated that 80 percent of athletes were fully vaccinated. Athletes were given a Playbook outlining the rules for COVID-19 safety at the games, which include social distancing, masking whenever possible, frequent testing, and avoiding tourist attractions.

In their design and planning, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have focused on sustainability. Only 8 of the 42 event sites were built specifically for the 2020 games. To minimize the use of new materials, 25 sites were updated from the 1964 Olympic Games. Event planners also made efforts to use recycled materials and renewable energy and lower CO2 emissions. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics mark the first time that the Olympic medals are made from recycled materials, recovered primarily from old smartphones and computers.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia will lead the country’s team in the surfing event.
Credit: © Louis Lotter Photography/Shutterstock

New events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics include karate, skateboarding, softball, sport climbing, and surfing. Softball returned to the roster after it was removed for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is named Miraitowa, from the Japanese words meaning future and eternity. Miraitowa’s design features the indigo blue and white checkered pattern which also makes up the Tokyo 2020 Olympics emblem.

A rural official in Japan shows off a mechanical Monster Wolf, invented to frighten away wildlife.
Credit: © Toru Yamanaka, Getty Images

The Japanese motion picture Gojira (1954) introduced one of the most recognizable monsters in popular culture, often called by its American name, Godzilla. In the film, the giant, dinosaurlike monster goes on a destructive rampage through Tokyo. Now, Japan has a new monster—but, unlike Godzilla, this monster protects the country’s people.

This fall, officials in the city of Takikawa—on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido—installed two mechanical wolves near a residential neighborhood in which bears had injured or killed people in recent months. Wild bears in search of food had been entering areas on the edge of Takikawa, walking through yards and rummaging through trash. Rural areas often serve as barriers between the wilderness and urban areas. But, as rural populations shrink, so too does the barrier between wilderness and populated areas.

Each Monster Wolf, as the machines are called, looks a lot like a normal wolf, if you ignore the metal legs and flashing red eyes. A Monster Wolf is 4 feet (1.2 meters) long and just under 3 feet (0.9 meter) tall. Along with its fake fur and bared fangs, the Monster Wolf shares perhaps the wolf’s most distinctive feature, an eerie howl. The Monster Wolf’s head has motion detectors that are triggered when intruders approach. The wolf then produces howling, screeching sounds. Other frightening noises the robot can imitate include a dog’s bark, a hunter’s voice, and gunshots.

The mechanical wolves in Takikawa are not the country’s first. Since the Monster Wolf was created in 2016, more than 70 of them have been installed in communities across Japan. The creations have previously scared off such animals as deer and monkeys, which have been filmed leaping away from the mechanical nightmares. Since the wolves showed up in Takikawa, there have been no bear sightings.

August 7, 2019

To people with a cat in the family, every day may seem like “cat day.” But tomorrow, August 8, is officially International Cat Day, a holiday that celebrates felines of all forms and temperaments and encourages people to love, help, and protect the animals. Started by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in 2002, International Cat Day is celebrated in cat-obsessed cultures around the world. IFAW is one of the world’s largest animal welfare and conservation charities.

August 8 is International Cat Day. Credit: © Shutterstock

People celebrate International Cat Day in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes as particular as cats themselves, cat lovers may pamper their pets, donate to animal charities, or flood social media with cat images and videos (more than they do already). Cat parades and parties are organized, people visit cat cafés, and international names are bestowed upon cats for the day. Mister Whiskers and Fluffy become Señor Bigotes and Peluche in Spanish, Simba becomes Lion in the translation from Swahili, and little Lucy gains international flare as Lou-lou, Lucette, Lucia, or Lucinda. However you choose to celebrate the holiday, it is an excuse to take a cat nap with your pet and give the critter a little extra love and attention.

Benjamin Fink of the United States Navy holds President Calvin Coolidge’s cat, Tiger, at the White House on March 25, 1924. “Tige” had made a brief departure from the White House grounds, but was promptly returned by Fink. Credit: Library of Congress

No one knows exactly when the first cats were domesticated, but archaeologists discovered a cat buried alongside a human in a 9,500-year-old grave in Cyprus. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the earliest known recorded pet cat name was Nedjem (loosely translated as Sweetie or Precious) during the reign of Thutmose III (1479-1425 B.C.). Thutmose was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, where cats were considered sacred.

A Maine Coon cat needs extra brushing on International Cat Day. Credit: © Linn Currie, Shutterstock

Throughout history, people have valued cats for their skill at hunting and killing mice, rats, and snakes. Cats help keep farms, homes, and businesses free of these animals. People in many societies believe cats bring good fortune. The grace and beauty of cats have made them favorite subjects of artists, and cats have been featured in almost every type of literature. They appear in the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, and Asian writers have praised cats in their stories and poems for many centuries. Cats are also commonly mentioned in the fairy tales, folklore, and legends of many countries. In modern times, cats are commonly featured in books, comic strips, motion pictures, musicals, and television programs.

Cat holidays are not limited to August 8. October 29 is National Cat Day in the United States, and March 1 is World Cat Day in Russia. In Japan, February 22 was chosen as Cat Day because in Japanese, the number 2 (二) is pronounced ni, so the date 2/22 reads as ni ni ni, similar to the way cats “talk” (nyan nyan nyan, or meow meow meow) in that country.

July 8, 2019

Since prehistoric times, people have depicted animals in their artwork. Ancient paintings and drawings of horses, oxen, and other animals appear on the ceilings, walls, and entrances of caves and rock shelters around the world. In more modern times, animals have continued to be a source of artistic inspiration. Many cultures have shown animals in artistic representations of rural life, as livestock, prey, or pets, or to illustrate legends and myths. Many cultures, too, include animals in art simply for their beauty or for their intimate connections with humans. At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., a new exhibition is detailing “The Life of Animals in Japanese Art.”

These wooden sacred foxes are part of the “Life of Animals in Japanese Art” exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Credit: Sacred Foxes (Nanbokuch periods, 14th century), wood with pigments by unknown artist; National Gallery of Art

The Life of Animals in Japanese Art is the first exhibition devoted solely to animals at the National Gallery of Art. The exhibition shows animals—some real, some imaginary, some sacred, some merely beloved—in a wide variety of artistic mediums. The more than 300 works in block prints, ceramics, decorative arts, lacquerware, paintings, sculptures, and textiles span from the A.D. 400′s to the present day. The artworks—including seven designated as “Important Cultural Property” by the Japanese government—come from public and private collections in both Japan and the United States. The exhibition began on June 2, 2019, and runs through August 18.

These 1,000-year-old sacred monkeys are included in the “Life of Animals in Japanese Art” exhibition. Credit: Pair of Sacred Monkeys (Heian period, 11th century), wood with traces of pigment by unknown artist; Los Angeles County Museum of Art/National Gallery of Art

The sprawling exhibit occupies 18,000 square feet (1,700 square meters) of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Concourse, and it is divided into various themed sections. The credited artists (many older works are unattributed) include the Zen Buddhist monk Sesson Shūkei (1504-1589), the painter Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800), and the painter and woodblock printer Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Such modern artists as Kusama Yayoi (1929-…), the clothing designer Issey Miyake (1938-…), and the painter and sculptor Murakami Takashi (1960-…) are also represented.

The Life of Animals in Japanese Art is part of a series of events included in Japan 2019, an initiative to promote Japanese culture in the United States. Earlier Japanese art exhibitions took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The animal art exhibition will move to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in September, and a number of Japan-themed concerts, festivals, and performances are taking place in the United States throughout 2019.

May 1, 2019

Today, May 1, 59-year-old crown prince Naruhito took the throne as the new emperor of Japan. Naruhito succeeded his 85-year-old father, Akihito, who abdicated (gave up the throne). The Japanese monarchy, symbolized by the Chrysanthemum Throne, is said to be the oldest in the world. According to legend, the monarchy dates back to the 600′s B.C. and the reign of Jimmu, considered to be a descendant of the Sun Goddess. In 1947, Japan changed from a divine to a constitutional monarchy.

Naruhito became emperor of Japan on May 1, 2019, beginning the Reiwa period. Credit: Michel Temer (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

In Japan, each emperor is given a reign name according to the gengō tradition. Gengō is a practice borrowed from ancient Chinese royalty. It uses a reign name to define the emperor’s period of rule and to record time. Naruhito’s reign name is Reiwa, so today is the first day of Reiwa 1, his first year as emperor. Emperor Akihito’s reign name was Heisei, a period that began in January 1989. Thus the last months of Akihito’s reign took place in Heisei 31. Many people, businesses, and government offices in Japan use both gengō and the Gregorian calendar to keep track of time.

Akihito was emperor of Japan from 1989 to 2019–the Heisei period. Credit: © Mark Reinstein, Shutterstock

Reiwa (令和) is a combination of the kanji characters rei and wa. Kanji is the Japanese system of writing using modified Chinese characters. Rei and wa are taken from a stanza in a poem about plum blossoms that appears in the Man’yoshu (Ten Thousand Leaves), the earliest collection of Japanese poetry (written in the late A.D. 700′s). Placed in that literary context, reiwa can mean fortunate or joyful harmony. (Heisei means achieving peace.) According to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose government chose the new reign name, the Reiwa period should bolster pride in the country’s history and traditions and create hope for the future.

The Imperial Palace is the home of the Japanese emperor. It stands in a beautiful parklike setting near the center of Tokyo. Credit: © Shutterstock

Naruhito was born in Tokyo on Feb. 23, 1960. He became heir apparent in 1989 after his grandfather Emperor Hirohito (reign name Shōwa) died and his father became emperor. Naruhito was formally named crown prince in 1991. In 1993, he married Masako Owada, a diplomat. Their daughter, Princess Aiko, was born in 2001. After Aiko’s birth, many Japanese began raising questions about the rules governing succession to the throne. Japanese tradition and law require that the imperial ruler be male. For a time, many Japanese hoped that this requirement would be changed so that Aiko could eventually inherit the throne. However, in 2006, the crown prince’s brother and his wife had a baby boy, Hisahito. Hisahito will likely become emperor after Naruhito’s death or abdication.

December 21, 2018

On Sunday, December 23, Japanese Emperor Akihito celebrates his 85th birthday. In Japan, the emperor’s birthday is a national holiday. The holiday, called Tennō Tanjōbi in Japanese, is one of just two days during the year that the public may enter the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the Japanese capital. The other public day is January 2, when the emperor makes a formal New Year’s greeting. Akihito has been emperor of Japan since 1989, when he succeeded his father, Hirohito. Heisei was chosen as Akihito’s reign name, and he is known as the Heisei Emperor. 

Akihito, who became emperor of Japan in 1989, is scheduled to step down in 2019. Credit: © Mark Reinstein, Shutterstock

Until after the end of World War II (1935-1945), the emperor was worshipped as a divine being in Japan. Today, despite his status as a mere mortal, the emperor remains a symbol of the nation. The emperor performs some ceremonial duties specified in the Constitution, but he does not possess any real governing power.

Emperor Hirohito, Akihito’s father, is seen here (on the white horse) in 1938. Hirohito renounced the throne’s claims to divinity in 1946. Credit: AP/Wide World

Akihito was born on Dec. 23, 1933, in Tokyo. Akihito spent his early years in the rigid seclusion preferred for sacred emperors. After 1945, the life of Japan’s imperial family changed. Akihito studied with an American tutor, Elizabeth Gray Vining. In 1953, he toured the West. His marriage to a commoner, Michiko Shoda, in 1959 was considered symbolic of Japan’s new democracy. The couple have two sons and one daughter. Crown Prince Naruhito, the oldest child, is heir to the throne.

The Imperial Palace is the home of the Japanese emperor. It stands in a beautiful parklike setting near the center of Tokyo. Stone walls and moats separate the palace grounds from the rest of the city. The settlement that became Tokyo was established in this area.
Credit: © Shutterstock

Akihito is due to step down at the end of April 2019, when Naruhito will succeed to the throne. Naruhito’s birthday, February 23, will have already passed, so the next Tennō Tanjōbi will not be until February 2020.

August 15, 2018

From August 13 through today, August 15, people celebrate the annual Obon festival in Japan and in Japanese communities around the world. Also called the Bon, Bon Odori, or Urabon festival, Obon is a Buddhist event that marks the spiritual return of dead ancestors to the living world on Earth. Because lanterns are hung to guide the souls of the dead, Obon is sometimes called the Festival of Lanterns. In some parts of Japan, the festival takes place in July.

Lanterns illuminate the night and guide the spirits of the dead during the Obon festival in Japan. Credit: Yoichiro Akiyama (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

According to the Buddhist sutra (scripture) Urabon-kyō, Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyāyana found his deceased mother in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, where spirits suffer from eternal hunger and thirst. Maudgalyāyana tried to give her a bowl of rice, but it burst into flames. He went to the Buddha for help, and was instructed to offer food and drink to monks on the 15th day of the seventh moon, the traditional end of Japan’s rainy season. The act of gratitude and respect freed Maudgalyāyana’s mother from her torment, and he danced with joy. By repeating the disciple’s offerings—and his dance—each year, Buddhists honor the dead and celebrate the relief of their suffering.

The three-day Obon begins with mukaebi, the lighting of fires and lanterns to guide spirits home. Many families build two altars of fruit, incense, and flowers called shōryō-dana. One altar is for ancestors, and the other is for any spirits who have not attained peace. Other common rituals include ohakamairi, the cleaning and decoration of ancestral tombs; prayer services at temples; and the preparation of special foods. Bon Odori, a Buddhist folk dance, is performed during the festival. Dancers in elaborate costumes form a circle around musicians and taiko drummers. (Taikos are large ceremonial drums.) Obon ends with okuribi, when fires and lanterns are again lit to bid spirits farewell. Some communities celebrate Obon with carnivals and other outdoor events.

July 24, 2018

From the end of June through early July 2018, torrential rains intensified by Typhoon Prapiroon caused catastrophic flooding in southwestern Japan. The floods breached levees and washed out towns and roads in heavily populated areas, killing 225 people and leaving several others missing. The freshwater floods (as opposed to tsunamis and ocean-generated flooding) were the deadliest in Japan since flooding killed 299 people in Nagasaki in 1982.

Floodwaters swamp houses in the Okayama city of Kurashiki on July 8, 2018. Credit: © STR/AFP/Getty Images

Unusually heavy seasonal rains began on the island of Kyushu and nearby areas on June 28. With flooding already beginning in some prefectures, Typhoon Prapiroon dumped immense amounts of rain beginning on July 3. As the situation worsened, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued emergency alerts, prompting the evacuation of several million people. Areas of Kyushu became awash in flooding, as did parts of nearby Honshu and Shikoku islands. In Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island, floodwaters as high as 16 feet (5 meters) devastated the southwestern prefectures of Hiroshima and Okayama. The worst short deluge took place in Kōchi prefecture on Shikoku, where 10.4 inches (26.3 centimeters) of rain fell in just 3 hours. On July 6 and 7, the Kōchi city of Motoyama recorded 23 inches (58.4 centimeters) of rain in as many hours. The deluge continued until July 9, when the rain gave way to stifling heat that has since claimed another 70 lives.

Click to view larger image
In late June and early July 2018, flooding killed 225 people in southwestern Japan. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Flooding and mudslides caused the most casualties in Hiroshima, where 113 people died and hundreds more were injured. At least 60 people died in Okayama where the Odagawa and Takahashi rivers burst their banks, and 26 people were killed in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku. Deaths also occurred in Fukuoka, Kōchi, Kyoto, Yamaguchi, and other prefectures. Most of the victims had ignored evacuation and other precautionary orders; several died trying to escape the floods when their vehicles were swept away. The hardest hit areas lacked appropriate levees and other flood emergency infrastructure.

More than 50,000 military and emergency personnel and thousands of volunteers responded to help people trapped by the flooding. Many roads and railways were submerged by floodwaters or blocked by debris, but boat and helicopter rescue missions ran nonstop until the floodwaters subsided and roads once again became passable. Thousands of people were rescued from the rooftops of their flooded homes.

The floods also severely damaged area crops, livestock, and wildlife. People out of immediate danger were troubled by electric power outages, commuter train stoppages, and the closure of many public and private businesses.

May 21, 2018

Japanese is the native language of Japan and the neighboring Ryukyu and Bonin islands. In Japanese, the language is called Nihongo (日本語). Hyojungo is the name of the standard form of the language and the dialect of the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Hyojungo is generally understood despite widely varying regional dialects. There are 127 million native speakers of Japanese. More than 100,000 people speak it as a second language. There are also large Japanese-speaking communities in such countries as Australia, Brazil, and the United States.

The common name for the flag of Japan is Hinomaru, which means sun disc in Japanese. Credit: © T. Lesia, Shutterstock

The oldest written account of Japanese, the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters), dates from A.D. 712, and it is written using Chinese characters called kanji. The dialect of the Kojiki originated with the aristocracy in western Honshu, Japan’s central and largest island. The dialect was spoken in the imperial capital of Kyoto, and it transferred to Tokyo when that city became Japan’s capital in 1868.

Click to view larger image
Japan.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Japanese is traditionally written vertically and from right to left. It is now also written horizontally. The complex writing system uses the established kanji characters plus syllable characters called hiragana and katakana and a Romanized script called romaji. Grammatically, Japanese follows a subject-object-verb order. There are 5 vowels and 16 consonants. Japanese nouns have no gender or number. Nouns are followed by postpositionals, which indicate the grammatical function of the noun.

Japanese characters on this print recount an episode of the 47 Ronin, a group of Japanese warriors in the early 1700′s. Credit: Wood-block print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1847); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (DeAgostini/SuperStock)

Japanese has many onomatopoeic words (words that sound like what they describe) and words that imitate motion. Repeating a word indicates a repetition or continuation of the action. For example, pyon means with a hop, and pyon-pyon means hop-hop.

Japanese is spoken differently based on the social situation. Intimate Japanese is for everyday conversation with family, friends, and co-workers. Polite is for well-educated company and strangers. Honorific is to show honor and respect to elders and superiors. Impersonal is for speeches and writing.

Japanese has been a literary language for many centuries. Women wrote many medieval poetry and prose pieces, including a classic of Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu.

Chinese loanwords, called kango, make up about half the Japanese vocabulary. Gairaigo (foreign words) come mostly from European languages. From Dutch, Japanese gets the words kohi (coffee), biiru (beer), and penki (paint). Since the mid-1800′s, most loanwords have come from English, including teburu (table), wapuro (word processor), and rampu (lamp­).

May 4, 2018

Today, May 4, is a holiday in Japan known as Greenery Day, a day dedicated to nature and the environment. On Greenery Day, commemorative plantings of trees take place throughout the country and events celebrate the beauty and importance of nature. Until 2007, Greenery Day was celebrated on April 29, the birthday of former Emperor Hirohito, whose reign name was Showa. Hirohito was known for his love of plants and nature.

Japan’s love of gardening and plants is celebrated on the May 4 holiday of Greenery Day. This traditional Japanese house shows the great care given to natural beauty. Credit: © SuperStock

Before being designated Greenery Day, May 4 was a national holiday already, simply because it fell between two other holidays: Constitution Day (May 3) and Children’s Day (May 5). (In Japan, a day between two holidays automatically becomes a holiday.) Add Showa Day (which replaced Greenery Day on April 29), and Japan has four holidays during a seven-day period known as “Golden Week.” Many businesses are closed during Golden Week, and many people enjoy an extended time away from work.

Greenery Day was originally celebrated on the birthday of Emperor Hirohito, seen here on a white horse in 1938. Credit: © AP Photo

Japan’s current emperor, Akihito, is expected to abdicate on April 30, 2019. His son Crown Prince Naruhito will then ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1. The government may make these days national holidays as well, in which case May 2—sandwiched between holidays—would also become a national holiday. As a result, all seven days of Japan’s spring Golden Week would be holidays. In any case, the Emperor’s Birthday holiday—December 23 for Akihito—will switch to February 23, Naruhito’s birthday.

Japan currently celebrates 16 national holidays, more than many other countries observe. The United States has 10 federal holidays. Canada has 9 (with more scheduled by province), and Australia has 7 (but more are instituted by local governments).