With less than one year to go until the opening ceremonies, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee is facing backlash over issues involving the ticket lottery advising spectators to be vigilant, lack of ticket information in braille or on CDs, or the possible presence of the Rising Sun flag at the Games. The Committee is also eyeing multilingual support with assistance for half a dozen languages during the Games. Here’s the latest on those stories:
OLYMPIC TICKET LOTTERY WINNERS ADVISED TO BE VIGILANT
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department is urging lottery applicants to be cautious of celebrating their success in the raffle too soon. Fraudulent websites have emerged following the results of the first batch, with authorities finding over 100 webpages allegedly designed to mimic the official 2020 Olympics homepage.
The Metropolitan Police Department has warned that a large number of phishing emails were sent to Japan-based addresses, attempting to coax recipients to fake websites by clicking on a link that would have a variety of consequences. These would range from tricking visitors to download anti-virus software that is presumably malware designed to sabotage devices, steal data, causing damage to these devices.
2020 GAMES CRITICIZED OVER LACK OF ACCESSIBLE TICKET INFORMATION
The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee has drawn criticism from groups supporting visually impaired individuals over not having launched ticket purchasing instructions in Braille or on a CD for those with visual impairments.
Tokyo 2020’s accessibility guidelines state that “all documents intended for public use should be provided in braille, text data, large print, or audio formats.”
SOUTH KOREA CALLS FOR BAN ON JAPAN’S RISING SUN FLAG
South Korean Olympic officials have called for Japan to ban its Rising Sun flag at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, claiming it represents a “militaristic and imperial past.”
Kim Bo-young, an official from the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee, told Japanese news outlet Japan Today the request was made to the Tokyo Organising Committee during National Olympic Committee meetings in the city between August 20th and the 22nd.
Tokyo organizers, however, said they will not forbid the flag, Organizers say “the Rising Sun flag is widely used in Japan, and it is not considered to be a political statement.”
TOKYO 2020 COMMITTEE EYES MULTILINGUAL SUPPORT
With the intent of improving police officers’ ability to provide directions, handling lost property claims, and other needs in foreign languages, the Metropolitan Police Department has been giving them English conversation lessons. It has also been teaching them how to use a 29-language translation application, which can be used on cell phones as well.
Alexandre Ponomarev, the chief interpreter for next year’s Games, is capable of speaking over half a dozen languages, ranging from German, Danish or French to Cyrillic languages such as Russian or Ukranian.
Next year’s Olympics will feature over 10,000 athletes pertaining to approximately 200 different delegations, many of which also speak minority languages.
Give me an airplane ticket & hotel room & i could handle the rest . My planwould be
Go to breakfast bar ,
Go to bath house for massage
go on a train anywhere who cares ,
Go to sushi bar
Go to iced tea bar ,
Go sit in nice garden
Go to dinner bar
Go to different sake bar
Go on train back to hotel ,
Go to sake bar
Go to bed .
Repeat for 10 days .
Perfect Olympics..
I take exception with your plan to go to a different sake bar before you’ve gone to the first sake bar.
Have to seek out the morning opening ones in time to get the finals .on the tv ..