Imagine it’s October 9, 1964 and you have this ticket to the Opening Ceremonies of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on the next day. 

This is the day over 5,000 athletes and the entire population of Japan has been waiting for – the start of a new Japan.

And by the looks of it, your ticket is in a prime location – Q-57, 5 UPP. I’m not 100% sure where that seat is on the map provided on the back of the ticket, but my guess is the area I highlighted in blue.

If it is indeed that section, you are in an honored section. Since the design of this ticket is different from the tickets generally sold, these may be for special guests, as indicated by the word “SPECIAL” written on the ticket’s map.

Special perhaps because in 5 UPP, Q-57, you will be seated very near the center of the stadium, almost directly opposite the Olympic cauldron, where a teenager from Hiroshima, born on the day an atomic bomb was dropped on his city, would climb the steps and light the Olympic flame.

Less than 50 meters in front and below you will be seated Emperor Hirohito, who will launch the Games.

And thousands of the world’s best athletes will march into the stadium by your seat, as if they are marching for you.

Don’t lose that ticket. It’s going to be quite a show.