The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are over. It was held after one year's delay without spectators because of the COVID-19 calamity. My family had tickets but they were going to waste (with a refund). I changed my mood, and am going to show you a small topic on the Tokyo Olympics.
During the Olympics, many cities were registered as host towns in Japan. Host towns are a nationally-instituted designation given to cities who serve as the "base" for pre-training camps for countries and their athletes who will participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. In addition to sports, host towns aim to promote a long-lasting cultural exchange between their municipality and their guest country that will extend beyond just the summer of 2020. For example, my hometown, Setagaya Ward of the Tokyo Metropolis is a host town of the U.S. team. The horse dressage competition was held in Setagaya Ward. The adjacent Suginami Ward is a host town of the Uzbekistan team and Meguro Ward is that of the Kenya team.
Kawasaki City in Kanagawa Prefecture is a host town of the British team. In commemoration of the host town registration and activities, Kawasaki City displays special stickers on the JR East Nambu line trains. You can see the Union Jack and "Thomas & Friends", which is a popular British TV series, on the stainless-steel bodies of the EMU E233-8000 series commuter trains.
Another event, the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, is going to be held beginning August, 24th, 2021... today.
