The Japanese have a lot of love, pride and culture

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December 30, 2021

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in this episode of “My Tokyo,” Euronews speaks to American Courtney Ryan, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, and Sandra Sanchez of Spain, Olympic gold medalist.

Ryan, who played for the US chair basketball team, was visiting Japan for the first time in the summer of 2020 and talked about her memories, although she did not see many places due to lack of time. Ryan tells Euronews that the place that surprised her most was the Ariake Arena, where she competed in the last competition, taking the bronze medal.

“I opened my mouth in amazement because I could not believe that I would compete for such a beauty,” she said.

 
 

Ryan and her team beat Germany in the match that decided the third-place winner, and she says the day of the competition was “extremely exciting” but also nerve-wracking, too tight. As she displays her medal, which is made of recycled materials, “It was great to bring this medal back to my home country, but also to my family.”

recycled medals

The curators of the Paralympic Games in Japan designed the medals from recycled materials such as cell phones, which were donated by Japanese residents to the Paralympic cause, in support of the players, players and the sector in general.

Ryan describes the ability of the Japanese to design medals of this kind as “unbelievable art”.

Omotinashi, or the art of hospitality

Ryan said she was given a warm welcome with her team upon her arrival in Japan. The Japanese call the hospitality and welcome “Omotinashi”. Thus, Ryan, who is in a wheelchair, had no difficulty getting anywhere. “Everything was set up to make things available,” says Ryan, adding that getting from Point A to Point B was easy, and that the Japanese had equipped the buses with the technology required so that everyone could get on.

 

“Love and Pride”

Rin confirms that she would like to visit Tokyo again to explore it and notes that “the Japanese have a lot of love, pride and culture”.

Sandra Sanchez, the Spanish karate champion who won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, says she had been to Tokyo before the sports competitions, and that she loved it.

Sancher notes that when she and her team members arrived in town, she felt loved as volunteers prepared everything to receive them. In addition, the Spaniard says that her last visit to Tokyo was highly symbolic and she was very excited about her, as she is a karate player who visits Tokyo, the city where the game was born.

Sanchez admits that from the time she realized that she was the gold medal winner for the “kata” category, until the moment she handed her the award, she was thinking of seeing it (the medal), touching it to feel that it was real and that it was hers, adding that she was crying because she was deeply affected.

Sanchez loved many places in Tokyo, but the electronics district of Akihabara was the place that surprised her the most. However, she says that any other place you visit in Japan, any square, any temple, you are astounded, and she says she would return to the city today, if she could. As for food, she admits that she loves a lot of foods in Japanese cuisine, but she admits that she crave everything close to the world of sushi.

Translated from euro news