Opening ceremony kicks off
The opening ceremony for the 2020 Summer Olympics has begun in Tokyo.
The event at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium will feature a lighting of the Olympic cauldron, a parade of some of the athletes and plenty of music.
The stands are virtually empty with less than 1,000 people actually seated in the venue, which can hold up to 68,000. But millions of viewers are watching from at home.
In attendance are approximately 6,000 athletes and team officials, 900 Games stakeholders and guests of honor along with 3,500 members of the press. U.S. first lady Jill Biden is among the dignitaries in the stands.
No spectators are allowed to attend the opening ceremony -- or any event in an Olympic venue in Tokyo during the Games -- as part of efforts to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.
The Tokyo Olympics organizing committee and the Japanese government have faced criticism for pushing ahead with the Games this year, despite public health concerns amid rising COVID-19 cases. The opening ceremony is already mired in controversy of its own, with the latest incident happening on the eve of the event. The Tokyo Olympics organizing committee fired the ceremony's director, Kentaro Kobayashi, over a joke he made about the Holocaust as a comedian in 1998.
"We have been preparing for the last year to send a positive message," Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, said during a press conference Thursday. "Toward the very end now there are so many incidents that give a negative image toward Tokyo 2020."
