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Nagano City has a population of 360,000. Officials have been preparing for the Olympics since making the nomination to hold the '98 Games, but local shopkeepers Hideo and Setsuko Ota joined in the preparations from July of 1997. Their cosmetics shop sits along the Chuo Dori or literally, Center Street which dead ends at the Buddhist temple, Zenkoji, and an area where you might expect to see a samurai appear even today.
Along Chuo Dori, there are about 120 shops. The Ota's joined the "one shop, one country" program, which paralleled the "one school, one country" program. All the local schools chose one of the 72 Olympic countries or areas to sponsor for the duration of the games, which included inviting team members to classes, learning the country's national anthem, painting national flags to hang around the city, and studying the country's culture and languages. The Otas happened to choose Finland by lottery. Trying to collect information about Finland was difficult at first, Hideo said, but after calling the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo and the Finland Friendship Association, he and Setsuko found much information.
Last October, a Finnish newspaper correspondent visited the Ota's shop and interviewed them, the first of several interviews to come from the media. The front of their shop looked like a Finnish flag and all 90 team members, coaches, and even the team chaplain's names were written on the signboard, which framed the entire storefront. Not long before the games, 80-90 Finns visited and gave thanks for the support. Once the games started, all the folk handicrafts in the shop immediately sold out. The flags went next.
A frequent visitor, Risto Jaakkola, who is a production planner from the Finland Broadcasting Company, said that this shop encouraged his country's athletes to do their best and made them feel that the Nagano citizens were kind and warm hearted. Setsuko wanted to do more than just support the Finnish guests by showing a warm heart, so she and Hideo contacted all the six Finns living in Nagano Prefecture to meet after the games. "Neighboring country's athletes also visited the shop," smiled Hideo. Setsuko said, "I feel I've had the chance to learn about Finland, and its language. Hideo and I now plan to visit this summer."
The Ota's volunteer spirit was typical for the Nagano Winter Olympic Games, which was noted for its volunteerism- approximately 32,000 volunteers. Since the 1996 Great Hanshin Earthquake (Kobe), many people have become involved in volunteer projects. Hideo, Setsuko and their daughter, Hiromi, were just three of them, but perhaps they were more deeply involved than some. Hideo showed his Olympic accreditation card for the game sites. Both he and Hiromi were figure skating committee staff members. Every day Hiromi went to the White Rink to work on miscellaneous jobs for athletes until 10 PM.
The media, Hideo complained, did not show the same spirit as the volunteers. He said magazines and newspapers compared the shopkeepers to the Olympic Global Sponsors and reported that "the Nagano shopkeepers are all entrepreneurs, but did not participate in the Games as volunteers for the "one shop, one country" movement." This was in fact, untruthful. All the shopkeepers worked for free to promote the "one shop, one country" program and did not receive any benefits. He cited another example of the media misinterpreting issues regarding the Taiwan flag. "It was a mistake that our shopkeepers decided not to use the Taiwan National Flag. We were not forced to do so by the Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998 (NAOC) or others, we decided by ourselves. The papers reported however, that invisible political forces caused the choice. This was not true!" Hideo also wondered why the media could not openly show more of the local Olympic support. Talk of bid rigging, called "dango", didn't have anything to do with the local shopkeepers, he said. It was for the large corporations, possibly some national Olympic Gold sponsors included.
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Oyaki, small vegetable or meat stuffed steamed dumplings, were the delicious, but only local product which was recognized as a special Nagano Olympic Sponsor. Global sponsors such as VISA, IBM and Coca-Cola could be seen everywhere, having covered huge expenses for the games, but they pushed out local advertising. And you couldn't find the Olympic 5 ring seal on any posters or signs without one of the Gold or Global sponsor's names on it. Hideo remarked that the shopkeepers had to request permission to use the Olympic posters, so the sponsor could be paid, he thought. They should have been able to use the 5 ring seal anywhere without joining in the outright financial links between NAOC and the Olympic Sponsors. Hideo said, "The shops along Chuo Street are just celebrating the games, and praying for their successful end. We're not doing it for the money. We are enjoying the whole experience, even with our small size."
The Otas didn't generate much income during the games, but they were happy to meet the athletes and foreign staff who visited their shop. The future holds new adventures with their plans to continue communicating with Finns. Hideo said, "I was very happy to participate in the Games and want to say thanks to all the athletes who have given us high class competitive drama." Finally, he advised the Asia Lutheran to contact the Tokyo based Finland Friendship Association which he thought was related to Lutherans somehow.
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