Shawn (00:00):

Hey everybody. And welcome back to English All Over the Place. Uh, your one-stop for, uh, interesting English, uh, listening practice, uh, if you're an English learner or if you just like to be entertained by, uh, two guys in Japan, um, as always, I am your host Shawn De Haven, along with my cohost:

Barney (00:25):

Hey, you guys can call me Barney and good news: The microphone is sounding much better today.

Shawn (00:32):

Yes. You don't sound like you're in a box or, or phoning in from Israel or something.

Barney (00:39):

What time is it there?

Barney (00:41):

If this was a newscast, we'd have a picture of you in the corner, you know, with bombs falling on Iraq or something, you know, Desert Storm flashback. But, uh, um, it's, it's great to have a be back again. Um, we have survived the Olympics, so I thought today, uh, what better topic to talk about, uh, then the, uh, Tokyo 20, 21, uh, 2020, uh, Olympics. Um, you know, really

Barney (01:18):

Because was it really just the 17 days of, ah,

Shawn (01:25):

You know, but eh, the whole up, and it's just, it's such a, it's such a long process for any Olympics, much less one that was delayed by a year because of a pandemic. Um, but, uh, you know, even, even the best Olympics have, uh, I dunno, hiccups and things like that, but I thought we'd separate, um, the show into two house for the first half. We talk about, um, the athletes and the games themselves. Um, and then the second half we can talk about the different problems with the Olympics. Had it, should it continue and et cetera, you know, somewhat, maybe negative things. We're going to end on a down note. Yay.

Barney (02:08):

Now let's keep it down all the way.

Shawn (02:11):

Oh, come on. Okay. So first things first, um, uh, as some of our listeners may know, um, Barney and I, I think we were pretty much looking forward to this Olympics in general, right? Um, uh, pre-2013

Barney (02:28):

When we found out they were coming,

Shawn (02:30):

Yes, pre-pandemic. We were very much into, uh, looking forward to the Olympics. I remember, um, the announcement was made in the middle of the night that we got it. Uh, and, uh, um, and I woke up my girlfriend, soon to be wife, later. And she's like, oh, whatever, go back to sleep. You know, you know, and, and she's maintained that enthusiasm for seven years, but, uh, but, um, and unfortunately both Barney and I were ticket holders to the Olympics.

Barney (03:06):

In our office, especially, we were kind of the only ones excited about (Yeah.) tickets, trying to get tickets,

Shawn (03:15):

The Japanese people in our office- we worked together at a different university. Now we work separately, just can't get along in the same office. Um, but, uh, they didn't care or try or whatever.

Barney (03:31):

No. "Oh, it's much more fun to watch on TV."

Shawn (03:35):

Well, little did we know everybody would be watching on TV. Um, and so I was, I was naturally disappointed. Um, although I had mixed feelings about going or not going because I had moved since. I, we, I went through three lotteries to finally get two tickets to the semi-finals of the women's soccer. (Yeah, boy.) And I picked that game because I figured the US would be playing and sure enough, they were. They played Canada, unfortunately they lost, but you know, sometimes that happens. Oh Canada. But, um, and you had tickets to, what was your event that you got tickets to?

Barney (04:20):

The, of the events that we tried, the one that I thought would come through, did, the men's field hockey final.

Shawn (04:30):

I can't believe that wasn't sold out immediately.

Barney (04:34):

I took me 10 lotteries.

Shawn (04:36):

Cause, I mean, I just see the kids playing field hockey on the street all the time, you know, "Damn! You kids!" You know, "Get this ball out of here!"

Barney (04:45):

I'm trying to drive through here...

Shawn (04:48):

"Car!" It's like the scene from Wayne's World except with field hockey. Um, and what-- did you watch that game live on TV?

Barney (05:00):

Actually, then I ended up, um, so the whole process of adding that kind of, we, you know, just it was an afterthought, we added that one to our list because I joked the whole time, even from over the seven, past seven years, that's how good my jokes are, you know, with my wife, you know, "I bet the only event we'll go be able to see is field hockey because no one cares about it." But, um, yeah, I didn't know the rules. I watched some of the, um, warm-up matches, you know, cause when Japan was playing, they showed it and I thought this actually is pretty exciting. And I watched the final game and despite the shootout being messed up in general, it was very exciting.

Shawn (05:43):

Yeah. I, I think if I had watched it, I think I would have been interested. There was so few goals. I was surprised by how few goals there were in the games. But, um, uh, but we're both, um, if anybody knows Barney and I, we're both, we are both ice hockey fans, so, we just call it hockey. But you know, I mean it's kind of like ice hockey, so, um,

Barney (06:08):

Yeah, there is, yeah, there is some overlap.

Shawn (06:11):

What events did you watch on TV? What did you make time to watch?

Barney (06:15):

Yeah. Thankfully the Olympics happened, um, kind of when my work schedule with, uh, nice and quiet, so I had them going all day. Um, so whatever was on, I would watch and then, um, you know, tuning into, through the app or through the website, one of the things...

Shawn (06:38):

Yeah. I, I, I have to say I'm very thankful for, um, NHK, the Japanese broadcasting company here and then, uh, Gorin, another Olympic website. They had all these events on live that you, you couldn't see on TV, uh, you know, a few Olympics past, you never would have been able to see team USA play because it was always Japan and somebody. And if Japan wasn't interested in women's soccer or, or, um, some other sport, it wasn't on TV. Thankfully

Barney (07:14):

You would never have the chance to see any stuff for free.

Shawn (07:17):

Yeah. So I could see, I could see all the games that I wanted to see. Yeah. Thankfully online also with the Winter Olympics, I found that happy I happening too, so I can watch all the ice hockey I wanted to, uh, in the last winter Olympics. Um, I just wish the US had better members at that time, but, uh, can't control that. Um, so you watched everything, or what, what caught your eye? What was the most exciting events that you saw? What were the most exciting?

Barney (07:47):

Yeah. Um, so it, the Olympics started, did, when did they start? Cause they started before the opening ceremony. Right. But, um, yeah,

Shawn (07:56):

It's kind of weird because like, um, uh, soccer and I think softball maybe started before the Olympics, uh, officially opened, but uh, yeah,

Barney (08:08):

One event and you'll probably get a kick out of this because of your own history, one event that we can't, we were driving when they started, um, in the car, was archery. Uh, and we saw

Shawn (08:24):

Ah, yes. You were watching in the car.

Barney (08:25):

Yeah right. Yeah.

Shawn (08:26):

That sounds safe.

Barney (08:26):

Well, our car lets us watch while we're driving. Um, so, um, it was the bronze medal game.

Shawn (08:35):

It must be hard to keep driving when you're like...

Barney (08:41):

Oh, oh, oh. "What about the wind if it shifts..."

Barney (08:44):

But the bronze medal, men's archery team, archery bronze medal game was very exciting because it went to, hey, a shoot out of all things! And uh, the last --Japan with last to go, I don't want to spoil this. And um, their, their last shooter, well,

Shawn (09:03):

You know, they are, they are still broadcasting. They're all on. Hold on. They are still broadcasting the, these, these games and NBC time delayed. So right. If you haven't heard yet. So tell me the last shot, what happens the last shot?

Barney (09:16):

He had to get a 10

Shawn (09:20):

And that's the bullseye basically, right?

Barney (09:23):

Yeah. He nailed. It right in the middle of the 10 circle as well. It was pretty good. Unexpected.

Shawn (09:30):

I think, I think, you know, I think that might, that might be an event that's better on TV.

Barney (09:35):

Uh, yeah, I think, yeah. From what you explained to your own personal experience...

Shawn (09:38):

Because, um, and for listeners who don't know my personal history with the Olympics, um, I went to the LA 84 Olympics with my father and he took me to archery and it was extremely boring. I don't remember anything about the actual event. It was exciting to be there. Um, he has a picture of me in the stands, um, with binoculars, with like a Garfield comic book, uh, on my lap, you know, just because, I mean, can you name any famous archers that aren't fictional, you know, Hawkeye and Robin Hood? Not, not on the Olympic team.

Barney (10:21):

Can you even think which country is strongest in archery?

Shawn (10:25):

I have no idea still, but, um, it was fun to go and because of that, I really wanted to take my kids to be Olympics, but that didn't pan out. Um, uh, and you probably heard our frustration from that on other podcasts in this season, but, um, (Things unfolded.) Yeah. So, um, that, that, that would be fun. That'd be fun. So archery, yeah. I mean, part of the Olympics, part of the charm of the Olympics is you watch the sports you like, and then occasionally you discover something that you didn't think you would like. And you do like, for example, curling in the Winter Olympics. That got a lot more popular in Japan and even people wanted to try curling afterwards. I think the sport that became super popular after being on TV this time was, uh, skateboarding.

Barney (11:19):

I know, I know.

Shawn (11:21):

Lots of kids, lots of kids now are trying to go skate skateboarding. And they're going to discover that the Tokyo metropolitan government does not like skateboarders, but--

Barney (11:30):

The doctors do.

Shawn (11:34):

Yeah. "You've got a broken femur." Um, but, uh, uh, it was-- I watched that, and it seems strange, you know, to have like 12 and 13 year olds winning gold medals, you know, I'm like, oh, okay, whatever,

Barney (11:50):

That's another one we caught in the car and you're watching the meetings. And, um--

Shawn (11:55):

How long were you driving?

Barney (11:55):

I know. It was Tochigi.

Shawn (11:59):

Oh, yes. I see.

Barney (12:00):

Yeah. And, um, it was during the tricks portion of their scoring and we looked at each other and we said, this isn't skateboarding, this is just falling off of a railing because nobody could land it.

Shawn (12:14):

I saw a lot of that, just casually watching, and like fall, fall, fall and pretty quickly falling, you know, so

Barney (12:24):

Next up, bang. Next up, bang.

Shawn (12:27):

Yeah. Wow. This is like a really abbreviated version of Sasuke, you know, or, you know, Ninja Warrior where nobody can get the first thing done, but, um, without all the tricks, uh, but it was, it was interesting. It seemed to get popular. Um, uh, I, I, I always like to watch the team sports because, um, I like baseball and soccer and basketball. And, uh, and I was disappointed, um, that the U S women couldn't win gold in softball. Um, a little bit less so in soccer, not because I didn't want them to win, but because it's just so hard and there's a lot of good teams. You can't win the gold every time. Um, especially when you're "woke," apparently, ha ha ha. Since the orange guy said, but, um, I was actually pleased with the silver medal for the men's baseball for the US because the Japan team was stacked with the best of the Japanese league here. And the US team was stacked with has-beens, never-weres, and not yet, you know, players.

Barney (13:55):

Yeah. So you put it that way. The other day, I thought...

Shawn (13:58):

I had no idea how they'd perform and they were very competitive, although there wasn't enough teams in that tournament, to be honest. Uh, was, was there any athletes or, or any, any results that surprised you or, or, you know, that you'd like became a fan of a certain athlete or anyone?

Barney (14:22):

Yeah, I, I guess I didn't really, um, maybe I remembered, um, seeing one of the women's sports climbers on Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai.

Shawn (14:36):

I'm sorry, could you say that one more time?

Barney (14:39):

Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai.

Shawn (14:40):

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Uh, it's a popular TV show, uh, on, uh, Japanese TV here. Yes.

Barney (14:45):

And so I was, look, I was because of her, I was looking forward to seeing the sports climbing, um, and also the, one of the men, male athletes was on Dash, uh, the new years, um, version, sports thing. Um, I just looking for that and I thought, wait, this really is kind of cool. And, um, and I ended up being coming kind of, not a fan, but re you know, interested in wanting to follow and kind of see how both of the women climbers did. It was really a lot of fun. I was glad that I, that I tuned into that.

Shawn (15:21):

I think they want some medals. Right?

Barney (15:23):

Yeah, silver and bronze for the girls.

Shawn (15:25):

Yes, yes, yes. Um, they look like Spiderman, just, you know, just especially the ones where they do the races up to the top and stuff like that.

Barney (15:32):

Yeah. Each one, I mean, boy aren't, are they really climbing? They just run another up the rope.

Shawn (15:40):

Well, actually they filmed it sideways

Barney (15:44):

Trick photography.

Shawn (15:45):

Yes. Um, I don't want to try it, but it looked interesting. Um, I was pleasantly surprised, um, and how the Japanese women's basketball team did. My gosh, they pulled off some big upsets. And then in like the semi-finals date, they didn't just beat France. They smashed France.

Barney (16:08):

Yeah. They did.

Shawn (16:09):

Yeah. Like by 20 points. (I know.) And got to the gold medal game and they played so well, it actually made me worried a little bit about an upset, uh, against team USA, but I was happy to see team USA smash them and bring them back to reality. U S A! You know, we got to have something!

Barney (16:29):

Cause you host the games...

Shawn (16:33):

Yes. They kept on going into the, you know, they kept on passing the ball to the, the woman who I believe is over maybe, maybe 6' 9", in the, in the, in the center. And she just kept on -- and like, yeah, just keep going to her. I think, you know, I don't think anybody could, I could not compete with her and I'm 6' 6" or so, but, uh, yeah, it was fun to see that, um, uh, there was a woman, Shimizu Kiyo, the karate, uh, woman. Oh man. Was she beautiful and tough looking! You know, I, I, I'm not ashamed to say, I wouldn't mind if she beat me up a few times a little bit, you know. Some of those martial arts, uh, I remember the brother and sister winning gold medals in separate events on the same day. That was really cool.

Barney (17:29):

And then the two sister wrestlers that both won gold too. That's really good.

Shawn (17:34):

Oh, I didn't know about that. Um, but I w I was a little bit surprised that Japan won so many golds. (Yeah. Yeah.) But, um,

Barney (17:44):

I don't think they've won that much before.

Shawn (17:44):

Nope. Nope. Not by, not by far. I think that the record was 18 or something like that, and they won 27 golds. So, um, yeah. And personally I'm a little bit, I mean, I don't like the contest of, you know, comparing golds too much, but it was kind of nice to, you know, it looked like China was gonna run away with the golds. And then on the last day, the U S is not in and took the lead, you know, so

Barney (18:11):

China has a lot, they there as well, they have a lot of athletes to choose from, but yes, they are involved in a lot of sports. They have a lot of chances to get gold. And then when you throw in badminton and diving and ping-pong, you know, then those are almost guaranteed for them.

Shawn (18:30):

Well, we can still destroy them in basketball, especially since Yao Min doesn't play anymore. That's a flashback from the past. But, um, yeah, so it was interesting though, um, now kind of shifting to public sentiment and things like that. I'd say the majority of Japanese people were against holding the Olympics. And I think with some in the cancel camp and some in the postpone camp, I myself was in the postpone because I wanted to go and I wanted to be able to celebrate the Olympics and have fun.

Barney (19:20):

Yeah, and I wanted, um, the businesses to be able to charge, you know, 100 times hotel fees.

Shawn (19:29):

I, I can't, I'm sorry, I can't hear you. You need to speak up a little bit louder.

Barney (19:31):

I was having trouble getting it out, to come out. I wanted, you know, hotels to be able to charge, you know, $1,500 a night, you know, to, to get more revenue too. Right.

Shawn (19:44):

You really were concerned about the hotel revenue. Wow. I, I did not have that on my bingo sheet here. Um,

Barney (19:52):

Yeah, but they've lost by not postponing them. They lost a lot of revenue.

Shawn (19:58):

Well, not postponing and postponing it enough. Um, yeah. And yeah, but I don't know. I mean, it felt like the IOC had a gun to the head of Japan and was like, you know, you're going to hold this, whether you like it or not. And naturally, um, naturally when the games finally started, I think some of the anti Olympic people, um, kind of jumped on the bandwagon of Japan winning so many goals and things like that. (Yeah.) But that's natural because you can't blame the athletes for this Olympics and, you know, they just want to do their best wherever they're allowed to do their best.

Barney (20:41):

Yeah. And they don't want to miss their window.

Shawn (20:44):

No, no. Some people did because the Olympics being postponed before.

Barney (20:49):

Yeah. And it's interesting, even in, um, in 2017 in class, as one of the activities, we had - an informal debate - I made them, I made the kids prepared a debate if the Olympics - hosting the Olympics - were a good idea or not. And, and I, you know, I said, you know, even if you don't believe it, you know, what, what, um, arguments can you propose? And at that time, people were saying, um, we shouldn't be taking away from money that needs to go to, um, recovery or, um, uh Kumamoto and also, um, Tohoku and things like that.

Shawn (21:27):

Well, Fukushima still and things like that, this was supposed to be the "Recovery Olympics." That was the theme of the Olympics. But, um, well I took informal polls of my students recently and the majority of them were against it. Um, and things like that. But, um, you know, it's just, I don't know. I mean, I, I, I wished they could have postponed it to next year, at the same time, or, or in September, maybe October where when the 1964 Olympics was held (Right.) in Tokyo, but because of the reality of NBC TV and other things like that, and they got smashed in the ratings, actually it was, I think the lowest ratings, I don't know, down 42% or something like that. Um, I think, did they catch the closing ceremonies,

Barney (22:29):

I know... But yeah, it was so bad that even the coverage in general was so bad that even The Guardian newspaper in the UK was criticizing NBC

Shawn (22:41):

Well, are the big Olympic backers usually, or no, they're just usually politics, right?

Barney (22:47):

Yeah. Yeah. So it was just so terrible that it was gaining international recognition.

Shawn (22:53):

Yeah...Of course. We didn't see any of the, um, international coverage really. So we don't know. And I think the time difference, really hurts networks like that, but, you know, they pay such-n-such billion dollars. So, um, I don't know if it really pays off. Um, but, uh, how about, what did you think of the, uh, uh, the closing ceremonies?

Barney (23:19):

Oh gosh. Um, yeah, Ayako and I have been talking about this for a while, just because the opening ceremonies were a disappointment and, you know, thinking how, how could, you know, you make it into something that, that, you know, everyone and especially the Japanese public would like? And I thought, um, you know, they, as much as they tried to introduce, um, Japan, um, in the opening ceremonies, why not have the closing ceremonies focus on the athletes and the sports and on the achievements. And, and, um, an article that I read today, like the volunteers: One woman - one Swedish volunteer - who helped a Jamaican hurdler get to, um, the venue on time. And, um, he found her, sought her out later and paid back the taxi fare that she paid for him to get where he needed to go. And then the, um, embassy picked up on it - Jamaican embassy - and they said, you know, you are welcome. We'll pay for you to go to Jamaica anytime you want, you know, maybe one time, but whenever you to go, yeah, yeah. Something like that.

Shawn (24:32):

"Yeah man" Not any time soon, but that's nice. Yeah.

Barney (24:34):

I don't need to see bon dori from different areas of Japan. Thank you very much. And I know people in America really don't need to see that because they have no idea what that is.

Shawn (24:46):

Well, it wasn't so much that cultural part, but like the part of performers, like acting like in the park, that whole segment of like Sunday in the park, I don't know what they were thinking. And, um, and of course, you know, we haven't even touched on the huge amount of scandals (Yeah really!). I mean, let's go through here, the, the original logo design, (I know!) Was plagiarized! (Copy and paste - Yeah.) And, and, and it wasn't even a good logo to start with.

Barney (25:20):

No it wasn't No, It was terrible.

Shawn (25:22):

I didn't, even if it wasn't plagiarized, I hated the logo. Um, the, the original design for the, uh, stadium, the national stadium was like way over budget and eventually it was trashed. And then the woman sued Japan, you know? And, uh, she passed away later - unrelated, um, uh, former prime minister Mori, um, was up to his old tricks as the chairman of the games and put his foot in his mouth yet again. (Even further!) Um, he had, uh, said, was it women talk too much? Or something like that?

Barney (26:03):

Yeah. "If they wouldn't let these women into these meetings, we've done so much faster! They're always talking about their emotions!"

Shawn (26:09):

Yeah. Just don't let them vote. Okay. Yeah, of course. Uh, for our listeners, if you don't know, prime minister Mori, uh, had to resign as prime minister because he had just these, all these gaffs that were just so stupid. Um,

Barney (26:29):

Didn't, he didn't apologize and was very reluctant to step down. I remember - How about the cybersecurity guy who doesn't even know how to check his email?

Shawn (26:40):

Well, well, well... Let's not, let's not go into the government thing there, but there's a million of those things. And then there was, uh, uh, Cornelius, the musician that was, that was, uh, it, it came out in an article several years ago that he was bullying some, uh, mentally disabled student, (Really severe bullying), any kind of, really, really bad, like you-should-call-the-police bad. And of course they finally canned him then right after that, a comedian - former comedian - who was in charge of, uh, staging it or something like that, uh, the closing ceremonies, I believe or the opening ceremonies - I can't remember, but he got canned because they found out he did a, a comedy routine about the Holocaust, you know, it's just one after the other, after the other. (Right up to The Games starting) And, and, and we know, and I think a lot of countries, and a lot of people have caught on now that the Olympics is kind of a scam. A scam by the home government to get all this money from projects, uh, that they wouldn't usually pay for. A scam by the IOC to get money out of the country. And, and, you know, and I know that, and I thought still, when we were awarded, when Tokyo was awarded the Olympics, I'm like, okay, but sure, it, it is a burden on the taxpayer, but we get all these interesting events and experiences with people coming here and it'll be worth it. And all of that was taken away and we couldn't go to any events. No, no, no. Of course you can't go to the sporting events. There were no cultural events. Right.

Barney (28:31):

Um, yeah. The, um, the local communities in really rural areas that were going - looking forward to hosting these athletes. (Yes.) And having them perform, you know, or, uh, train with the local (Or interact with the kids) - yeah, yeah, yeah. That was taken away. And, um, as I mentioned before, you know, [no return in taxes from tourism]

Shawn (28:54):

And I'm sure, you know, I think Japan lost, maybe, I don't know, $800 million in ticket sales, at least, you know, and we're gonna find out -

Barney (29:05):

And just the general feel - the excitement and seeing people, visitors from different countries that you would - all coming together in the same area.

Shawn (29:13):

Yes. I have lots of fond memories of the 1984 LA Olympics, not just going to the archery, which was boring as heck, but, um, going with my dad down to downtown LA, do pin trading with other collectors, um, to go to other cultural events in downtown LA that were opened that - you know - for free and, you know, and all these different things. And I was in elementary, it was a lot of fun, you know, and, um, I didn't pay attention to half the events, but I remember I had a fun impression of the Olympics and I wanted that for my kids

Barney (29:56):

For sure! Yeah, really...

Shawn (29:58):

And, I mean, my son was super positive. He's like, "Olympics dai suki," you know, he said, while we're watching on the TV, you know? And he's like, wow, you don't know how much I wanted you to - "dai suki" means, you know, "I love it." in Japanese, um, so he loved the Olympics, even though he barely understood it, but, um, they're trying, and I wanted to take them, but you know, like so many people we couldn't go.

Barney (30:21):

Yeah. And will, will we - will that chance come around again?

Shawn (30:27):

I don't think so. Yeah. I think so many people here in Japan, have had a negative experience. I think, uh, chairman "Bahha," uh, maybe it's "Bach" in - I - in, in English must be one of the most hated people in Japan right now. (I think so.) I mean, he visited Hiroshima, he visited Nagasaki - I think he visited Nagasaki, and they're like, we don't want you here. You know, it's just...it's sad.

Barney (30:57):

Why don't you bite someone's medal while you're at it?

Shawn (31:07):

Oh geez - yes. Another stupid scandal, but, um, (Yeah.) Uh, the, uh, was it the mayor of Nagoya when meeting with a softball, softball player, right? (Yeah, right; she's from the area too.) She met the mayor with the medal... And first the first thing I thought was strange was he asked her to put it on him. Like he had won the medal and I'm thinking, no, you haven't won that. And then he did the little thing where - where athletes bite their medal and he bit the metal. And I saw on the news today. (Yeah.) Over 7,000 complaints from the, to the city hall from residents and yeah. Okay. I think it's a little bit much, he was stupid. Let's move on though.

Barney (31:48):

He didn't just take a little nibble, it looked like he thought it was a hamburger.

Shawn (31:53):

Yeah. I believe there are even exchanging the medal now.

Barney (31:57):

They are, they are, yes.

Shawn (31:59):

I think that's a little bit over the top. Okay. He, he was an idiot. Okay. But, uh, uh, we have other things to deal with right now. And of course, there's the big question here. We're running a little bit over time, but, uh, of course there was a big question of Corona. Do you think that the Olympics, uh, contributed to, uh, the spike in cases of COVID-19?

Barney (32:25):

Yeah. Well that and, and as you'd like to say, um, a person is smart, but people are dumb. You know, they still lined the streets. They still wanted to be in the areas where they could be.

Shawn (32:40):

Yes. Uh, like seeing the, uh, fireworks to the closing ceremonies,(Right? Yes!) They were outside on the streets too.

Barney (32:48):

Yeah. They had to get their videos so that they could post them to YouTube - hoping that the news would pick it up.

Shawn (32:53):

I can kind of understand that. I kind of understand that I did want to go downtown and maybe take a picture of the torch. Uh, but I never got around to it. And, um, but you know, I don't think it had as big effect on the Japanese citizens as, um, just general fatigue from state of emergencies.

Barney (33:24):

That's very true. That's very true.

Shawn (33:24):

I don't know how many times have we had a state of emergency declared, you know, and, and as a parent, you know, you can't make a threat so many times and have it have the same effect.

Barney (33:38):

That's a very good point.

Shawn (33:38):

You know, people are done with, with restraining themselves. A lot of people are done. I think I'm almost done, you know? I'm going to -

Barney (33:53):

Especially now is supposed to be the time to travel. Yeah.

Shawn (33:55):

Yeah. I, you and I, we both really wanted to go back to the United States and see our families. Um, so it was really, it's a really stressful time for all of us, but, um, now we have this spike that is so much higher than any other highest time,

Barney (34:19):

Even - even with Chiba getting into the thousands is very rare.

Shawn (34:25):

Yeah. If this spike had happened in January of last year, people would have been losing their shit - I'm sorry, but because it's happening now and we've experienced so much in the last year and a half or so that people are getting numb to it.

Barney (34:45):

That's a good point, yeah, really.

Shawn (34:47):

And I hate to do all the talking here, but also like, you know, it's very hard to get the vaccine. I mean, my wife tonight was online at - there was like a six o'clock, um, opening, um, like on the website that you could register for the self-defense force site where they are giving vaccines in downtown. And she tried and tried and tried and could not access the site. And eventually 20 minutes later it says all reservations are full. (Of course!) So, because she wants to get it before September or October when she's scheduled to get it. You know it's, it's, it's - go ahead.

Barney (35:37):

I know...Almost - after almost a year after other countries have started.

Shawn (35:42):

Well, Israel, Israel and got, you know, I mean, they're, they're, they, they were the extreme example, but like my mother and my father, uh, then got the vaccines in January and February and, uh, um, other people in the United States got it much earlier. (Yeah.) I will be getting my second shot on the 19th and that's only because I had some health problems that qualified me for a little bit early, you know? Yay. But

Barney (36:13):

Yeah. Yeah. I won't, I won't even get my first one until the 22nd, and people tell me that Narita is, "Wow -man, Narita is fast. You guys are really good and organized!" Really??!!

Shawn (36:28):

Yeah. Well, once I get that second one, I'm going to be licking every lamppost and just - no - pushing it to the limit no..

Barney (36:37):

Make sure it works.

Shawn (36:39):

But, uh, I felt, uh, no, almost no ill effects from the first one and I don't care what ill effects I'll feel for the second one - it'll be worth it.

Barney (36:49):

Yes, really,

Shawn (36:51):

But I'm still disappointed, you know, partly because of the Olympics that I can't go home again until maybe next March. (Yeah, right) So, you know, this, this, this episode, I'm sorry, it's such a downer at the end here. And we haven't been as able - been as able to make as many jokes as I wanted to, but, uh, I think the Olympics is an interesting topic, you know, uh, on one side we've got the great athletes, natural drama from that. And then the other side of: Should we have this? Yeah. (Exactly) Even so ... Generally, yeah, go ahead.

Barney (37:35):

Yeah. Even so I'm, I'm looking forward to, uh, 2024.

Shawn (37:42):

Uh, in Paris. Yes. That was very cool to see the jets flying by and that France colors and things like that.

Barney (37:51):

And some of the French athletes were already there,

Shawn (37:55):

Because they had to leave Tokyo immediately (They had to) basically, Wasn't that guy competing yesterday?

Barney (38:01):

I know! "Air travel these day - amazing!"

Shawn (38:06):

Um, he looks a little sleepy. Yeah. He was, he was probably on Concorde. Um, yes, but, um, look it up kids. It was a super fast thing that doesn't fly anymore. Um, our show is running a little bit long today and, um, nobody will suffer more than us because we have to transcribe it later. (Right.) But I hope that you've enjoyed our, our recap of the Olympics, um, as foreigners in Japan. Um, from our perspective here, we could probably talk another 20 minutes about it, but yes. Um, any final thoughts about the Olympics or in general?

Barney (38:49):

Yeah, I th - I think that, um, you know, I'm sure that everyone has their own opinion and I really respect that. And I think that we've probably covered, um, the very different opinions that you could have, and we did it fairly. And, um, we always appreciate you guys listening, whether you agree or not. And, uh, we hope you experienced a lot of good laughs thanks to the sarcasm in this episode.

Shawn (39:15):

Yes. Sarcasm. Yes. Um, my, my, my biggest defense mechanism. (Yeah, really) Uh, well, otherwise we'd just go crazy right now; we're - we're trapped in Japan and, uh, Japan is a wonderful place, but if you could never leave and never go home, you know, I just want to go to Arby's. Is that so wrong? No, it's not even that good, but, uh, yes. Um, okay. Well, I hope you enjoyed the show. I hope you enjoyed watching the Olympics, um, wherever you are. Uh, and, uh, let's look forward to, I don't know, Beijing is going to be a kind of a nightmare, uh, human rights wise.

Barney (39:59):

We'll see really...

Shawn (40:00):

That's that is less than a year away. (I know - February!) So sharpen those skis. Um, yes. Um, but, uh, 2024: Paris and then 2028: My hometown of Los Angeles (That's very cool). Hopefully we can get things together by then. (I would think so, yeah) I think we'll be okay. All right, guys. Um, this is, uh, Shawn De Haven and:

Barney (40:29):

I am Barney - thank you again, everybody!

Shawn (40:32):

Signing off today. Sorry to walk over there. Uh, um, uh, I hope you enjoyed the show and we will see you next time. Uh, again, if you have any suggestions, you know, uh, fill out the survey, if you'd like to hear certain things, certain topics, and, uh, we will get that transcript and the, uh, um, different quizzes on listening up very soon. So stay tuned. (Right.) See you guys later.