Tokyo 2020 Wrap: New Creative Director; Paralympic Ticket Refunds

(ATR) Tokyo 2020 organizers make changes to the creative team responsible for designing and delivering Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics.

The move, according to organizers, was necessitated by the decision to take a simpler and more restrained approach that reflects the change in scope of the Games, which were postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Tokyo 2020 said the new team organization "will allow us to prepare for these ceremonies more quickly and efficiently in the limited time available".

Hiroshi Sasaki has been named the chief executive creative director, replacing acclaimed actor Nomura Mansai. The 66-year-old Sasaki, who was already in charge of the 2020 Paralympic ceremonies, will now oversee the Olympic ones as well. Nomura will stay on as an adviser.

Sasaki was responsible for the one-year countdown event held at the National Stadium on July 23 as well as the flag handover ceremony at Rio 2016 featuring Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Super Mario.

Paralympic Ticket Refunds

About 21 percent of the roughly 970,000 tickets sold in Japan for the Paralympics are being returned for a refund.

Kyodo News reports ticket purchasers applied for refunds for about 200,000 tickets from Dec. 1 to Dec. 21, the period where applications were accepted.

The refunds will be sent out beginning in the middle of January. It has not been decided if the refunded tickets will be put back on the market.

The 21 percent return rate is slightly higher than for the Olympics. About 810,000 of the 4.45 million tickets sold in Japan for the Olympics were returned for a refund, a rate of about 18 percent.

Written by Gerard Farek

For general comments or questions,click here.

Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.