Emperor Naruhito declares opening of Tokyo Olympics: changes wording to "commemorate"
The Tokyo Olympics opened on the 23rd, and His Majesty the Emperor, who attended the opening ceremony alone, made the opening declaration in Japanese, " 私はここに、第 32 回近代オリンピアードを記念する、東京大会の開会を宣言します（ I hereby declare the opening of the Tokyo Games, commemorating the 32nd Modern Olympiad ） . The wording of the Emperor's declaration was changed from the previous opening declaration to use the word "commemorate" instead of "celebrate” in Japanese. The Olympic Charter specifies in detail the declaration to be read by the head of the host country, and the original English text has the word "celebrating"; the JOC's translation is " 祝う (celebrate)" but in this draft, that word has been changed to " 記念する (commemorate)," a change just within the scope of the Japanese translation of "celebrating”. It is believed that they avoided using the word "celebrating" in consideration of the public sentiment