"Thinking of the Tokyo Olympics Makes Me Sad"... Japanese Netizens Sigh While Watching the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

On the afternoon of the 4th, at the National Stadium in Beijing, China, the final torchbearers, Donegal Iramuzan and Zhao Ziyuan, lit the cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Japanese media and netizens have evaluated that the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics in China overshadowed the Tokyo Olympics held in July last year.

Since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed by one year due to COVID-19, the two events were held only about six months apart. Moreover, given the strong ethnic sentiments between China and Japan, the tendency to compare the two has inevitably become more pronounced, analysts say.

On the 4th, Japanese sports media Tokyo Sports reported on the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics held that night at the Beijing National Stadium, stating, "As soon as the opening ceremony began, voices on SNS quickly lined up saying it surpassed the Tokyo Olympics."

It added, "China’s world-renowned film director Zhang Yimou, who also directed the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics, was in charge again, and from the start, the use of computer graphics, projection mapping, and large-scale stage equipment overwhelmed viewers."

Internet media J-Cast also reported that day, "Voices praising the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony are flooding Twitter," and "Many opinions highly appreciated the beauty of the video and production, saying it was more impressive than the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony."

In fact, after the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony, netizens on SNS expressed lamentations comparing it to the previous Tokyo Olympics. They reacted with comments such as "The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony is too luxurious," "Thinking of the Tokyo Olympics makes me sad," "The production and visuals are much better than Tokyo," and "It’s regrettable that (Tokyo) seems to have wasted money."

Earlier, the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony held on July 23 last year was heavily criticized for being too modest compared to the costs due to a significant scale reduction caused by COVID-19. There were also unfortunate incidents such as the replacement of the production team due to past school violence and inappropriate remarks.

Song Seung-hwan, an actor and director who was the general director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, compared the two events, saying, "In terms of creativity and culture, Japan seems to be aging, while China feels like it is just becoming young."

During KBS’s live commentary of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony that day, Song said, "In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China was very tense trying to show itself, but now it seems more relaxed and at ease."

Regarding the opening video featuring the 24 solar terms, he evaluated, "Director Zhang Yimou, who comes from a film cinematography background, excels in color and mise-en-sc?ne," and "He directed the scenes with outstanding visual beauty."

He also commented on the overall event, saying, "It seemed simple and was shown in a shorter time than expected." He added, "It feels like China is becoming more global, moving beyond just showing its own colors so that not only its citizens but people around the world can recognize and empathize with it," and "Culturally, China seems to be approaching the global universality befitting a G2 through this opening ceremony."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.