hailstorm

Maybe because of NHK's poor production, but I'm finding this pretty meh. I've seen better projection mapping at Tokyo Disney Resort.

hijiji

Would love to hear some of your experiences when you get the chance.

JapanFlyerT

Sure thing.
I ended up volunteering 7 days over a 10 day period.

My initial role was Field Cast at the National Stadium. It was all hands on deck for the opening ceremony, but since there were no spectators they gave us a variety of other jobs to choose from after that. I signed up for a couple days of monitoring junior high students, but only a small number came, and they stayed for just 2 hours. After that, I opted for working in the press office, where at least I could use my language skills (plus watch the track and field events from a shaded position). Meeting members of the media was fun and I had some pretty good conversations.

There was what in my mind was overstaffing by a factor of 2-3 at almost every post. As is common in Japan, the meetup time was usually two hours before the work began.

The volunteers came from a range of occupations and ages. Many retirees, a good number of female students. I could count the number of non-Asian volunteers on two hands. Everyone was quite dedicated, and perhaps a bit frustrated that their skills were not really put to full use.
Many volunteers had done the Olympics as well. A high percentage were from Tokyo, or lived out of town but had Tokyo roots. Most had a place to stay in town. I myself got an AirBnB for ¥4,000/night. It was a 35 minute walk to the stadium which meant I could avoid riding the trains most of the time I was in Tokyo.

One meal per shift was provided, but very basic. Toward the middle of the week I opted to just take a plain onigiri and snack on nuts I brought from my room. There were free soft drinks available (ostensibly one per meal), but on the hot days people consumed so many that they started to crackdown. There was bottled water too, but you had to know where to find it. Since they gave all of us water bottles, it would have made a lot more sense to have set up water coolers.

There were temperature checks, masks and hand sanitizer everywhere. PCR test kits were readily available and required for volunteers dealing with overseas media/athletes/officials.

Personally, I now have much more interest and respect for the Paralympic/disabled athletes. Up until now I have been mainly an NBA fan, and had never watched Paralympic sports. I was amazed by the blind long jumpers who run in the direction of the coach's voice. The shotput was also pretty exciting, with a tight competition in a few categories and shouts of joy which carried across the stadium.

I also got into watching the streaming broadcasts, especially the wheelchair basketball and tennis (silver medalist Kamiji actually lives in our area). I also watched goalball and some swimming. If I get the chance, I might try to get to Paris in order to get the full experience.

hijiji

Thanks for that! How cool to have done it and also taking on various roles. You could see things from various perspectives.
It's great you could find a place close enough so that you didn't have to use public transport.
DId you get to keep your beanie from the opening ceremony? I quite liked those.

JapanFlyerT

No beanie for me. But I did get a few blue volunteer shirts, pants, a hat, jacket and decent sneakers. Apparently, there is a pretty strong demand for unopened uniforms on Yahoo Auctions, but I plan to keep mine.