Members of foreign media outlets work at the Tokyo Olympics Main Press Centre in Tokyo's Koto Ward on July 22, 2021. (Mainichi/Jun Kaneko)

       TOKYO -- The Tokyo Games have seen a series of scandals from their outset, with the opening ceremony's show director sacked the day before the actual ceremony, but how has Japan's pledge to provide "omotenashi" -- or hospitality -- to those who have come to the country for the games been playing out at the Main Press Centre (MPC), out of which thousands of journalists are working?

       The MPC is housed at Japan's biggest convention and exhibition center, Tokyo Big Sight, in the Ariake district of the capital's Koto Ward. The gold-colored upside-down triangles of the convention center are visible from the closest train station on the automated Yurikamome line that runs along the Tokyo waterfront. These triangles that float 58 meters off the ground comprise the facility's conference tower, and is the location of the room where the likes of Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, hold their press conferences.

       This reporter, after undergoing a bag inspection for banned items, arrived at the prefabricated structure for a press pass check. That was when a security guard wearing a mostly white and blue uniform was seen practicing his golf swings (without a club or ball), which was anticlimactic.

       According to the organizing committee, around 5,500 members of the media from approximately 200 countries and regions, working for 2,000 media outlets, are doing their jobs out of the MPC. But due to the worldwide spread of coronavirus, the actual numbers are apparently much lower.

       To get into the MPC, one scans a pass with one's photo on it with a camera-equipped device. Baggage inspection is carried out with brisk efficiency by Self-Defense Force personnel wearing camouflage fatigues.

       Big Sight is made up of the conference tower and four exhibition halls, among other facilities, and is known for being the site of events such as the Tokyo Motor Show and the Comic Market, more commonly known as Comike. The MPC takes up 30,000 square meters in the West Exhibition Halls, and in another hall is the international broadcasting center. Most of the signage inside the facility is in English.

       One will be surprised trying to quench the thirst that is bound to strike after walking in the summer heat from the station to Big Sight. It's not shocking that all the beverages sold at the MPC are from the Tokyo Games' top sponsor, The Coca Cola Co., but what is shocking are the prices. A 500-milliliter plastic bottle of Coca Cola that would be less than 100 yen (approx. $0.91) at a Tokyo supermarket is being sold at the MPC for 280 yen (approx. $2.55). Having tried one of the expensive Cokes, I can say that there was no difference in flavor between the two.

       At the Main Press Centre, beverages in 500-milliliter plastic bottles are sold for 280 yen (about $2.55), seen here at the Big Sight convention and exhibition center in Tokyo's Koto Ward on July 24, 2021. (Mainichi/Naoaki Hasegawa)

       There are also two restaurants and two cafes, and here, too, everything is overpriced. A hamburger and fries sets one back 1,400 yen (about $12.77). Instant noodles in a cup at a cafe is 400 yen (about $3.65). It reminded me of the time that Finance Minister Taro Aso was asked during a session of the Diet when he was prime minister how much he thought a cup of instant noodles cost, to which he answered, "about 400 yen," and was lambasted for lacking the sensibilities of the common people.

       Meanwhile, food and other daily necessities sold at the convenience stores at Big Sight are available at prices that are the same as at other convenience stores. But aside from milk and health drinks, they have made sure that all beverages being sold are from Coca Cola.

       In an effort to highlight that the games are meant to celebrate the progress of "recovery and reconstruction" in areas hit hard by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, a recovery and reconstruction booth has been set up on the central floor. There, footage of the damage that Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures suffered, as well as their allure, is being played, and wooden benches made by elementary and junior high school students in Fukushima Prefecture using local materials have been placed. But what is striking are members of the foreign press sitting on the benches and deep in conversation, with their backs to the monitor playing the footage.

       "It's become a rest area for the press," an official from the organizing committee said. "Everything has become difficult to do because of the coronavirus." There had been discussions about events in which survivors of the 2011 triple disasters would be invited to Tokyo, but the idea was abandoned after it was determined that it would lead to congestion -- a no-no amid the coronavirus pandemic. The organizing committee also hosted two events online that connected members of the press with people in the hard-hit disaster areas prior to the opening ceremony of the games, when it figured journalists would not be as busy as they would be after the ceremony. But the committee faced the harsh reality that many foreign press members arrived just in time to make it for the start of the games.

       There are few people standing near the tourist information center close to the entrance to the center. Tourist guides in 10 languages have been prepared, as well as pamphlets on the venues for various events, but foreign press members are not allowed to go out freely due to COVID-19 countermeasures, and they're busy with reporting to begin with.

       "The pamphlets are here also for those who will cover the Paralympics and those who will visit Japan again in the future," the organizing committee official said. According to the same official, most of the people who came to the tourist information center were people who were trying to get around in the MPC.

       (Japanese original by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Tokyo City News Department)

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