Discovering Japan

The 2020 - no, 2021 - Olympics in Tokyo are underway, and I can already tell that there won't be much to make light of in this dark era of COVID.  Even the opening ceremony, which under perfect circumstances would be perfect to ridicule, doesn't offer many opportunities for satire - except for maybe the human pictograms, which I saw a bit of online, which of course I found completely ridiculous.  Mummenschanz they ain't.

It was sad, though, to see the athletes of the world - at least those whose events are within five days of their events, the rest arriving later to stop the spread of COVID - walking into an empty stadium looking like armed bandits and waving to TV cameras.  The torch lighting?  Didn't see it.  I know Naomi Osaka was an appropriate choice, but after Ali, all subsequent choices are second rate.

But how about those fireworks, eh?  The only part of the ceremony Tokyo residents could actually see! 

Okay, maybe there are things about these Games I can make fun about . . .

Right, the competition.  I saw the U.S.-Japan women's water polo game, and at one point they should have stopped the play when it became apparent that the Japanese ladies were getting their bathing caps blown out of the water.  The U.S .women's soccer team seems to be on its way back to glory.  The men's team?  Uh, yeah, well, they're busy competing in the CONCACAF tournament where they're holding their own and hoping to get their reputation back.  Not that their reputation was all that great in the first place . . . 

And now, for the first time in the Olympics, for your entertainment, ladies and gents - skateboarding! 

Bloody hell, show me Katie and be done with it.