Cultural aspects of the opening ceremony of 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games
From localism to globalism
1998 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 45-53
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1998 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 45-53
The purpose of this study is to interpret what kinds of massages were tried to transmit world wide in the Opening Ceremony of 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games on television. I referred to the intentions of the producers of the Opening Ceremony, the ideal of the Organizing Committee, and the aims of the Ceremony according to the Olympic Charter for this interpretation.
The Opening Ceremony in Nagano was planned as festival, spectacle, and ritual performance. The programs were as follows: The ringing bell at Zenkoji Temple to banish earthly desires and purify the soul; The raising of eight log pillars known as Onbashira to form four gates and to consecrate the Olympic Stadium into a sacred arena; The Dohyo-iri Ceremony, the ring-entering ceremony by sumo wrestlers, which reached its climax when the yokozuna grand champion wrestler Akebono entered the dohyo to purify the ground for the athletes; The Nagano Games peace appeal song, which conveyed a message of hope for global peace, sung by schoolchildren dressed as Yukinko (snow children); The parade of athletes preceded by Sumo wrestlers and schoolchildren; The opening ritual according to the protocol decided by the IOC; The global chorus performance of Beethoven's Ode to Joy led by conductor Ozawa linking five cities on five continents with Nagano. By analyzing what kinds of cultural messages these programs had, it is possible to clarify the real aims of the Opening Ceremony.
It can not only be said that the Japanese national culture based on the Nagano local culture was transmitted to the global level, but also that the trans-national culture through the internationalism of the opening ritual ceremony is represented by the global symphony of Ode to Joy. It can also be interpreted that the localism was expressed as the globalism. It is questionable, however, whether these global massages were understood through the world, and whether these were well matched with the educational ideal of Olympism.
