Words TOM RANSLEY
Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, arrived at the Rio Olympic closing ceremony via an oversized green drainpipe, clad in a Super Mario costume. It was a triumphant display that set Japan social media alight with tweets of approval, signalling a spirit of optimism for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Yet Yoshitaka Sakurada, the minister responsible for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games is having less fun than his prime minister. In a recent parliamentary session, he made a catastrophic slip when discussing the amount of funding allocated for the games, saying that the budget stood at 1,500 yen – roughly the equivalent of a tenner. Sakurada is notoriously prone to such gaffes – he is also the deputy chief of the cybersecurity strategy office but recently admitted to never having used a computer and seemed confused by the purpose of a USB stick.