Tokyo 2020 Launches Committee for Ceremonies, Promotion

(ATR) Games chiefs today set up a panel to develop ideas for the Tokyo 2020 opening and closing ceremonies and on how to promote Japan.

The committee was created at a Tokyo 2020 executive board meeting.

Around the Rings is told that the 12-member group will be responsible for generating proposals to boost the profile of Japan and Tokyo in the build-up to and during the Games. Officials will also advise the Games organizing committee on the ceremonies’ basic plan and selection of the producer.

The advisory panel includes David Atkinson, a former Goldman Sachs analyst who now heads a 300-year-old restorer of traditional architecture in Japan, and Joi Ito, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab.

The board did not discuss any plans for the ceremonies at today’s meeting.

Tokyo 2020 also confirmed that on April 1 it will start to collect electronic devices for its medals project.

In a nationwide initiative, precious metals retrieved from discarded mobile phones and other electronic devices will be recycled to create the medals for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The event kickstarting the collection process will take place in a store of Tokyo 2020’s telecommunications partner NTT DOCOMO next Saturday.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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