Universal Newsreels - The Olympic Games - Japan (1964)
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00:00Tokyo is dressed in her holiday best for the opening of the 18th Modern Olympics,
00:09the first to be held in the Far East. At the National Stadium, there's a capacity
00:13crowd of 75,000 present for the opening ceremonies that precede 20 different
00:18sports events among athletes from 94 nations. The United States contingent of 330 men and
00:28girls is warmly applauded, and the male members are singled out by their jaunty Western hats.
00:33The Russians follow the U.S. team, their arch rivals in Olympic competition.
00:39There are 5,541 entrants in this year's games, a near record. As the host nation,
00:48the Japanese enter last. The Japanese have spent $2 billion to welcome their guests,
00:53and not a taxpayer has complained, out loud. Then the teams line up on the infield as Emperor
01:02Hirohito declares the games officially open. As the 124th Emperor of Japan welcomes everyone
01:08to the Olympiad, the ringed flag is raised. Then the spotlight shifts to Yoshinori Sakai,
01:20who circles the track carrying the torch that was lit at the Olympic site in Greece,
01:24and drawn here by a relay of thousands of runners. He mounts 154 steps to the pedestal
01:30that holds the Olympic cauldron. Sakai was born 40 miles from Hiroshima on the day the U.S.
01:36dropped the atomic bomb. He might stand as a symbol of peace among nations through friendly
01:41competition, just as the roaring Olympic flame brightens international horizons every four years.
01:508,000 pigeons are released to blacken the sky in majestic flight.
01:53May all nations find greater understanding through sports.