Japan’s superfan seems to complete Olympic circle in 2020

TOKYO For most people, watching the Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Still, for ninety-two-12 months, superfans Naotoshi Yamada, it has grown to be a quadrennial ritual over the past five and a half years. Yamada acknowledged his Japanese compatriots as “Olympic Ojisan,” or “Olympic Grandad,” who first won the Summer Games. At the same time, Tokyo hosted the gathering in 1964, and he was there for every minute of everyone seeing that. “Mexico, Munich, Montreal, Los Angeles, Moscow. Japan no longer took part in the Moscow Olympics. However, I went to look at that Games,” Yamada instructed Reuters in Tokyo. “Moscow, Seoul, Barcelona, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London. I went to all the Games from the opening to the last ceremony … There is not much someone like me. I am the most effective one on the earth.” In his special gold top hat, pink jacket, and beaming smile, Yamada has become one of the most familiar and colorful figures at the Games, regularly observed using television cameras and cheered by other enthusiasts. He has one very last desire- to live long enough to carry the spectacle while it returns to Japan in the next 12 months. “It will be the culmination of all my years cheering the Olympics,” stated Yamada. Yamada became a relative stripling of 38 when he attended his first Olympics, not merely to witness the spectacle but from an advanced preference to experience the arena that became stimulated with the aid of a speech given at his college by using Emperor Hirohito. “The emperor stated he wanted the young technology to rebuild our United States,” Yamada stated. “I felt that I wanted to do something for my use. I assume that it’s miles, one of the reasons I started going to the Olympics.” Yamada’s first Games Outdoor Japan changed in Mexico City in 1968 when he paired his classic Haori Hakama kimono with a Mexican sombrero. Yamada said it became impossible for him to select a fave from the 14 Olympics. “If you have … Exclusive hues of crayons and a person asks which shade is the favorite? Black? Red? Blue? Green? … Every shade has its individual,” said Yamada, a huge grin etched across his face. “So I can’t tell that is my favored one. Each of the Olympics was charming.” Yamada loves the common nature of the Olympic Games and has a full collection of souvenirs he has gathered over the years, some of which he received through swaps with other fanatics. His flags, stamps, snapshots, and other objects are on show at a gallery in his homeland of Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture. “The Olympics is the simplest international competition for all humankind,” stated Yamada. “Athletes and vacationers from more than 200 nations will gather in one area. For the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, so many human beings need to return to Japan. I think that 2020 can be a great occasion.”