Shutting the blog down

I've decided to shut this blog down.

My life has been quite hectic and each thing I want to do has been neglected.
So I think I should be focused on something most important, "Humanitarian activities for Children" and my job.

Especially, I've been wanting to work for children and want the activities as my lifework.
However, I do nothing for now. I even don't update my blog of those activities.

Meanwhile, regarding my job, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." haha.
Also, I must not cut corners on my job as a professional. Business persons have their responsibility as long as they get pay.


Although I will shut this blog down, I'm going to enjoy the Tokyo Olympics, needless to say. (I'm also going to apply for a torch bearer!)
Just one year to go!!

Thank you very much for visiting and reading this blog.
I hope you enjoy the Tokyo Olympics too, hopefully it would be great if you visit Japan then!

If you are interested in humanitarian activities for children, please sometimes visit my other blog.
http://educationallchildren.blogspot.com/

The ticket application will be started soon!

The Official Ticket Website was Launched on 18th and the application for the ticket lottery will be started on 9th May.

The Official Ticket site
https://ticket.tokyo2020.org/?culture=en-us&_ga=2.130923596.2134006424.1555836488-521361269.1555836488

NOTICE!
The above is only for residents of Japan.

IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF JAPAN, you can refer the following site to see the guidance of ticket.
https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/ticket/

IF YOU LIVE OUT OF JAPAN, the information of the authorized ticket reseller is here.
https://ticket.tokyo2020.org/Home/ATRList/?culture=en-us&_ga=2.223133528.2134006424.1555836488-521361269.1555836488

Come to Japan to watch and enjoy the TOKYO 2020!!

The Olympic Games competition schedule was fixed.

The TOCOG announced the formal competition schedule of the Olympics.

1st and 8th August are called "Super Saturday", and 2nd is called "Golden Sunday, because competitions that are the center of attention will be held and also many Gold medalist will be decided on those days.

I might have said before, I want to watch swimming and judo, and above all, the opening ceremony!

The schedule details are here.
https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/

The invitation to the orientation has arrived.

Over two weeks have passed since I gave up working at the Tokyo 2020, I received the invitation to the orientation.

Hmm...

I have lost my enthusiasm about it though...

Tentatively, I'm going to attend it. It's at the end of this month.

Giving up working at the Tokyo Olympics

The orientation for the Tokyo Olympics has started, especially in Tokyo, it is held from February to May.
However, I haven't received any invitation yet.
Now, I'm certain I wouldn't received it anymore, because it's already at the end of March.

So, I've gave up working at the Tokyo Olympics.

Actually, when I declined the WRC volunteer at the end of last month, I also gave up the Tokyo Olympics.

To be honest, any disappointed feeling never come up in my mind. Rather, I'm relieved.

As I wrote here a bit, I've been realizing that the TOCOG is very sloppy, slow, vague and out of touch with the general public.
I didn't write here about that all, but it's terrible.
The TOCOG mostly consists of the metropolitan officials, so it might be a matter of course.
I've said that the RWC organizational committee is much better than the TOCOG. But after that, it has been obvious that the RWC committee is also sloppy and dull.
That's one of the reasons why I declined the RWC volunteer without any hesitation.

I wanted to work at the Tokyo Olympics, but it means I have to work for such a organization.

I'm a straight business person. It wouldn't be impossible to work for it, even though it is just a volunteer.

This situation probably tells me that I should be focused on what I should do, which is involving in helping children in harsh situation.
http://educationallchildren.blogspot.com/

So, I decided to enjoy the Olympics as an audience.
Securing tickets would be very difficult though!

Declining the RWC volunteer

At the end of last month, I finally received the role offer of the Rugby World Cup volunteer,

and,

actually I declined working as a volunteer immediately.

The role I was offered was, working around the city and fun zone, which means, it's not a volunteer who works in the RWC event.

In the Tokyo Olympics, there are 2 kinds of volunteers, one is the event volunteer recruited by the TOCOG, and the other is working in each city which is something like working as a guide for tourists and it is recruited by each city. What I have applied for was, of course, the event volunteer.

So, in the RWC, it is like that I was offered a city volunteer.
I've applied for the RWC volunteer because I wanted to work in the event.
There were many roles for the event expect for the role I was offered.

Qualifications for a event staff

The news reported that a volunteer interpreter at the Beppu-Oita Marathon called African guest athletes chimpanzees on her blog.

The details are;
the Japan Times

Before as a interpreter or volunteer, she has problems as a person.

It's difficult for event organizers to find out such personal problems. Unlike companies' recruiting process, they can't take time to have thorough interviews with each and every applicant.

Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee diagnosed with leukemia

Today, a shocking news made headlines around Japan, even abroad.

A talented 18-year-old Japanese swimmer, Rikako Ikee, who is very popular in Japan and one of the athletes who are most expected to win gold medals at the Tokyo 2020, posted on her Twitter that she was diagnosed with leukemia.

She had been in the training trip in Australia since last month, but she returned to Japan last week because of being in bad shape.

The details are;
CNN news

Very surprising and shocking.
Almost all Japanese people are shocked.

A person who was surprised and shocked most is her, needless to say.
But she shows positive comment on her Twitter. What a strong mental she has!
Her coach and the vice chairman of the Japan Swimming Federation also said in the news conference that she was really strong.

But, she is still 18 years old, and only one year until the Olympic trial.

I hope she recovers from the disease soon and we can see her at the Tokyo 2020.

Ikee got 6 gold medals at the Asian Games last summer

(frm: https://dot.asahi.com)

Ticket Selling Process and the Price

The ticket selling process for Tokyo 2020 has been announced.

Notice!
This is the information only for residents in Japan.


SCHEDULE

The First Chance - after April 2019
Online application and Lottery

You can apply for tickets through the Tokyo 2020 ID site from April this year.
(You need to register the ID in advance.)
Then, lottery is conducted and you are informed if you get the tickets or not after mid of June.

The Second Chance - Autumn 2019
Online application on a first-come-first-served basis

The Third (and Final) Chance - Spring 2020
Over-the-counter sale


I think that tickets of popular events are sold out at the first chance.
It seems to be difficult to get tickets you want.

(frm: https://tokyo2020.org)

Although many TV news reported that online sales will start in April, the TOCOG still shows vague expression.
Look at the chart above.
Although it's already 2019, they still say "2019 spring, fall..."
Here in Japan, spring is supposed to start around March. Next month! Announce the specific month!!


PRICE

There are 5 classes for each event, A - E.

The opening ceremony is, A is 300,000 JPY and E is 12,000 JPY.
I wonder if seat E is enough to feel the atmosphere of the ceremony. Or it might be disappointing?

The highest is ticket A of the Track & Field Final, 130,000. Its ticket E is quite reasonable, 5,800. Hmm,,, Seat E is... almost impossible to see each athlete?

I want to see the opening ceremony and swimming.

The details are here.
Because the TOCOG doesn't provide the English page of it (as usual), the above is the Japanese site.

For your information, there are old information of the price in the English site.
Those were published last summer. very old info.
So it doesn't include the prices by classes.
Olympics
Paralympics

The Volunteer Name was decided.

The volunteer name for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was decided and announced yesterday.

The names which were selected are;

Game Volunteer: Field Cast
City Volunteer: City Cast

Ah... I knew it.

The result is;
The total vote is 37,739.
Field Cast / City Cast                       16,187
Games Anchor / City Anchor             5,688
Games Force / City Force                  5,536
Shining Blue / Shining Blue Tokyo  10,328

I wrote before that the name candidates and my impression of them.
My article

Then, somewhat, the result ended up as I thought.
Although I hoped that "Field Cast / City Cast" wasn't selected, I predicted that these would become most popular among Japanese people.
I also mentioned that the words "Anchor" and "Force" were not familiar to Japanese people.

I've hit the nail on the head unfortunately. (<-- strange English?)

Tim kindly put his comment on my previous article about the naming. It seems that the word "Cast" is not an appropriate volunteer image for English native speakers.

I have said that "Cast" is like Disneyland. Also I heard that Japan's door-to-door delivery service company Yamato Transport has been using "Field Cast" for their delivery men. The TOCOG said that there is no problem in terms of trademark registration. That's the point? The same name as delivery men? It's the same that both jobs are very tough though.

The branding of Tokyo 2020's test events

The brand name and logo for the test events have been revealed on the 23rd.

The brand name;
READY STEADY TOKYO

The logo;

(frm: https://tokyo2020.org)

What the name and the log express is here.

Although the word "steady" doesn't strike me so much, I hope the brand name makes sense for English speakers, or rather internationally.

The number of the applicants - Final

I wrote here the other day that the TOCOG has announced that the number of applicants for volunteers and there were people who weren't able to complete their application due to system failure.
(the article)

Then, the TOCOG announced the final number of the applicants yesterday.
It's 204,680.

Allegations of bribery against the JOC President

The media has been reporting that French investigative authorities have been investigating allegations of bribery against Tusnekazu Takeda, the President of the JOC in 2020 Olympics bit.

I'm not sure what the fact is.
If the allegation was true, it would be an incredibly big problem, needless to say.
Always too much money moves around for Olympics, both legally and illegally.

I felt that there was few people here in Japan who thought he did something illegal.
However, his press conference is being criticized.
He just explained what's been going on so far and his innocence unilaterally, and then, the news conference lasted only 7 minutes. Any question wasn't accepted.

The details are here.

Hmm... actually, I've had a good impression of him. He seemed to be a nice person. So, although I can't say he did illegal or not, at least I don't think he is not a person who conducted such a press conference.
Then, I heard something.
When he announced that he would hold a news conference, the IOC told him not to do that. Hmm... But he had already announced. I guess that's why the news conference ended up like that?
He might have wanted to hold a more decent news conference.
Or, he might not be a person I thought.

By the way, the persons who allegedly received money are Lamine Diack and his son.
Lamine Diack is the ex-president of the IAAF and an ex-member of the IOC. 
The money allegedly flew; Japan ---> the consulting firm which Japan used for 2020 Olympics bit ---> Lamine Diack's son ---> Lamine Diack's

Lamine Diack is...
He was prosecuted for bribery of 2016 Rio Olympics bit.
Also, the WADA reproted that he was involved in the cover-up of doping committed by Russian and Turkish athletes and got money in exchange for the cover-up.

What a money-tainted person!!

The info of the Orientation for the Olympic Volunteer

I found the information of the volunteer orientation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Although it's quite important info, I don't receive any mail or don't see any announcement on the MY Page. It was just listed in the news column on the website.

Isn't the place to post wrong?
Shouldn't this kind info be sent by email in the first place?


Actually, I have often had the feeling that...
at least regarding volunteer-related activities, the RWC2019 Organising Committee is much more organaized and doing more properly than the TOCOG.
What the TOCOG has been doing is vague and unclear, and sometimes sloppy.
I know the event scale is different though.

I wonder if the TOCOG is not sloppy and just the RWC2019 Organising Committee is doing too great?
I'm not sure because it's my first time working for an international sports event.


The information I've found includes the steps to the orientation with the orientation reservation manual (PDF file), the schedule, the venue, etc.
Is it OK that those information is posted just in the news column??
I think that many of the applicants haven't found it.

The orientation in Tokyo will be held from early in February to the end of May.

I also found some information in the Volunteer FAQ.
The TOCOG doesn't invite all the applicants. They say that they will invite necessary number of people plus expected number of refusers.
The TOCOG never mentions "lottery." They uses the word "matching." But I don't think they can check matching for all 200,000 applicants. I think that's why they keep the criteria unclear.

And what is more, they don't say anything about whether to inform the people who are not invited to the orientation, more than half of the applicants won't be invited though.


The RWC2019 Organising Committee clarified the lottery, informed both successful and unsuccessful applicants of the results, and often (too often, haha) sends us emails to give information.


Organizing committees have to be very organized. Otherwise... it takes a toll on athletes and stuff especially volunteers.

The following is a part of the article I wrote here regarding the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

Volunteers boycotted.
Due to crude working conditions, about 2,400 volunteers quit by 3rd February.
The remaining volunteers have requested the country’s Olympic committee to provide decent or basic working conditions.
And, in the end, over 100 volunteers boycotted the rehearsal for the opening ceremony.

The outcome of the Interview Roadshow

As I wrote, I attended the Interview Roadshow for the Rugby World Cup 2019 Japan Volunteer a month ago.

Then finally, I received the outcome.
I logged in the My Page and found "Acceptance." Goody!!


I promptly received the mail which said "Welcome to "TEAM NO-SIDE."

It also informed the renewal of the volunteer site and its new URL.
However! it's impossible to access it! An error message I have never seen appears. I guess that it's not due to too much traffic but due to server setting or so.

Also, I received the mail about an Orientation held in March.
I wonder why, but it's an optional, not must-attended event. Optional orientation?

I'm going to attend it, I can't sign up for it so far because of the current website trouble though.


Anyway, I'm very happy becoming a member of the TEAM NO-SIDE!!

Candidates of Volunteer Name

2 years between the volunteer application and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is named "Volunteer Journey", which is described as "opportunities to meet other volunteer applicants that share the same ambition and spirit, and the solidarity as a team member will grow stronger."

It's also described that the important first step in the Volunteer Journey" is to name the Games Volunteer.
It will be decided by a vote of the volunteer applicants.

There are 4 naming candidates.

Game Volunteer: Field Cast
City Volunteer: City Cast

Game Volunteer: Games Anchor
City Volunteer: City Anchor

Game Volunteer: Games Force
City Volunteer: City Force

Game Volunteer: Shining Blue
City Volunteer: Shining Blue Tokyo

The meaning and the intention f each naming is here.


Hmm... my impression is;
"Field Cast" sounds quite ordinary and is like Disneyland?
The word "Anchor" is less familiar to Japanese people. "Force" might be the same.
And so, I voted "Shining Blue", it's quite a novel name though.
"Shining Blue" is based on indigo blue color used for the Tokyo 2020 Games emblem.

The result will be released at the end of this month.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For reference;
At the RWC 2019 Japan, the name of the Volunteer Program (not volunteer, but the program) is "NO-SIDE."
There is the program emblem.

(frm: https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/volunteers)