ceremonies went on with creditable marks despite an empty vast, huge stadium

For the viewers who were tuned in before an empty audience, kudos in any language for Japan, which pieced together a masterful 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

With all the adversity and negative news leading up to an initial postponement of this prestigious event every four years, this nation worked to present it despite numerous coronavirus pandemic restrictions that included no fans allowed in the stands in host city Tokyo and its surrounding areas.

Still, there were many drawbacks during these ceremonies in the huge, dressed up and colorful Tokyo Stadium. While everything was performed in a skilled, well done atmosphere of silence, and some applause from the few allowed in, outside the stadium protesters could be heard yelling, “Stop the Olympics” through bullhorns.

There were other problems, for the day before the opening festivities, the organizing committee dismissed the ceremonies creative director after it emerged that he had once made jokes about the Holocaust during a television comedy skit.

His firing came just days after a composer for the ceremony resigned and organizers withdrew a four-minute piece he had written in response to a vociferous social media campaign criticizing him for severely bullying disabled classmates during his school years.

Plus, the Japanese public has been all riled up as coronavirus infections in Tokyo have risen to a six-month high and the domestic vaccine roll out has proceeded slowly.

But the opening ceremonies went well from start to finish.

It began with colorful floor displays that brought what resembled dots and more dots and lots of dancing and acting. And with lighted drones above the stadium following a giant rotating globe, the organizers were clearly trying to divert the message of the Games away from the pandemic and scandals and toward the more anodyne themes of peace and global harmony.

Then came the usual stadium march in with more than 11,000 athletes from 205 countries dressed in colors of their respective nations, wearing face masks, and dancing and waving exuberantly, most with their arms in the air to whip up excitement while nearby host dancers cheered them on.

The United States had a long wait before entering the stadium, coming in next-to-last before Japan marched in. Thus, the red, white and blue were probably the loudest, with some even happily removing the masks once the march was over, and getting in some greetings and hugs as one of the event’s largest numbers.

All were expected to participate in 33 events over the next two weeks. Nearly all of the events, like the opening ceremonies, are being held without spectators, and the athletes will compete under strict protocols that limit their movement.

A year after the 32nd Summer Olympics was originally scheduled, the opening ceremonies unfolded in the midst of a tenacious pandemic, with attendance limited to fewer than 1,000 dignitaries and other added guests in a remarkable state-of-the-art vast stadium built to seat approximately 70,000.

Usually it is the Olympians who face considerable odds,t but this time it was also the organizers who waged an uphill battle to get to this moment. What was meant to be a showcase of Japan’s gleaming efficiency, superior service culture and appeal as a tourist destination has instead been swamped by

infection fears and host committee scandals.

The opening ceremony is often the host nation’s chance to show itself off, its hospitable people, its charms, its attractions, it’s picturesque beauty, and the organizers put on a similar show of past Olympics.

Confetti doves fell from the sky and a rendition of the Beatles’ “Imagine” on jumbotrons reverberated through the arena with warm, excellent and harmony performances by Keith Urban, John Legend and Angelique Kidjo.

The organizers sprinkled traditional Japanese culture through the festivities, staging what looked like a typical summer festival with lanterns and a taiko drumming soundtrack as well as an excerpt from a famous Kabuki play. Above the stadium, there was the constant, colorful lighting that resembled a birthday cake in various colors. The ceremonies concluded with a huge round darkened ball placed above the stadium, and followed by the Olympics anthem.

But in other ways they embraced a more modern outlook in selecting Naomi Osaka, with family names first, to light the Olympic cauldron. She is Japan’s most famous athlete as one of the world’s best professional tennis players and was the unknown honored one who wasn’t known until she received the final lit lantern.

There was also basketball star Rui Hachimura who plays for the National Basketball Association’s Washington Wizards, and he was one of the country’s flag bearers. He and Osaka are just two of several multiracial athletes who are representing a largely homogeneous Japan at the Olympics.

With all this, much credit has got to go to a nation that isn’t to blame for all these distractions, a nation that is skilled and hospitable to all, and that includes tourists and those you meet in everyday life.

Yes, kudos to Japan in any language. It is trying its finest to bring joy to its land in these pandemic times, and in most ways, is succeeding. The games began Wednesday and were welcomed by each and every country.