When coronavirus body slammed the world, the IOC and the government of Japan postponed the Tokyo2020 Olympics and Paralympics as the global economy stood punch drunk in the corner, tagged with constant jabs and body blows.

 

As we approach the end of the year, as infection rates continue to soar, a ray of hope has appeared in the form of newly developed vaccines. Will that ray of hope grow into that light at the end of the tunnel IOC president Thomas Bach desperately wants to see?

I hope so.

 

As a footnote, my own 2020 was not a total bust – the Japanese version of my book was published, and I appeared in A&E History Channel’s documentary, Tokyo Legacy, which is about the history of Tokyo from 1945 to 2020. While I was not so prolific this year in my blog, I did write a number of original articles I am proud of.

 

Reasons to Believe

• The 2020 Friendship & Solidarity Gymnastics Competition: An International Test Event that Shows a Working Scenario for the Olympics in 2021
• The World Masters Games Kansai 2021: The Canary in the Tokyo2020 Coal Mine
• Tokyo2020 Paralympics One Year to Go: IPC President Andrew Parsons Says “Full Speed Ahead”

 

Emotional Memories of Japan

• The Palchikoffs: How the Grandparents of an American Olympian Survived the Russian Revolution and the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
• An Olympic Wedding at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics: The Fairy Tale of Diana Yorgova and Nikola Prodanov

 

The Paralympic Movement

• Rising Phoenix: The Stirring Netflix Documentary on the Paralympic Movement that Seeks to Change the World
• “My Spirit Lifted High”: The Stunning Impact of the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics

Recalling 1980 and the Cold War

• The 1980 Moscow Olympics Part 1: The American Boycott
• Childhood Memories of the “miracle on ice” before the “Miracle on Ice”: The Euphoric Last-Minute Tie with Sweden Forty Years Ago