Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Volunteers Reunion
We had a reunion last night for some of the volunteers from our time at Oi Hockey Stadium during the Olympics.
This was us back then, in the summer of 2021.
We got together at a restaurant near Shinbashi station.
The restaurant was in a building called the New Shinbashi Building, which looked older than I am, and was filled with some creepy shops, like fortune tellers, stores trading in gift coupons, and lots of massage parlors.
One of several stores buying and selling gift coupons, unused travel tickets, and things like that.
A row of fortune telling booths.
One of many massage parlors on the first and second floors. While walking through some of the women kept on asking me if I wanted a massage. I didn’t go into detail about how they were targeting the wrong audience, but I explained I was meeting friends. They insisted I would still be on time. Rather a strange place.
The restaurant was nice though. I waited by the entrance for people to show up.
Here we are gathered around the table. From the left, are Sacchy, Yoko, Kiyomi, Emily, me, and Kamon. We talked of memories of the Olympics, new volunteer work people were doing, and how everybody was getting along.
Day turned to night and we said our goodbyes. Until next time! It was great to get together again!
I stayed up way past my usual bed-time. I didn’t get back to Shinkoiwa until almost 10 pm!
And here is a record of some posts from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics:
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Training (November 15, 2019) – https://lerner.net/tokyo-2020-olympics-training/
Olympic Credentials and Uniform (May 18, 2021) – https://lerner.net/my-tokyo-2020-olympics-goodies/
Venue Training at the Oi Hockey Stadium (July 4, 2021) – https://lerner.net/olympic-venue-training-at-the-oki-hockey-stadium/
Some Scenes from Volunteer Days (July 27, 2021) – https://lerner.net/tokyo-2020-olympics-some-scenes-from-volunteer-days/
United in Emotion (July 28, 2021) – https://lerner.net/united-in-emotion-with-members-of-my-olympic-volunteer-group/
Final Volunteer Days (August 7, 2021) – https://lerner.net/final-volunteer-days-at-tokyo-2020-olympics/
How fun,and wonderful! Your next reunion will be here before you know it.
Doug, I was glad to stumble on your chat with AJ today. Thank you for sharing your journey. We have so many things in common, WFPBNO, early life heart attack, U of M. I’m headed to Japan in February and would love to connect with you before then if you’re amenable — I’m working on where and what to eat as we make the way around the country. And I’m encouraging you to keep swimming!
Hi Toby. Thanks for your comment. I really do need to get back to swimming! I will send you a separate email so we can connect.