Akira’s Olympic prophecy, 1988: “Just cancel it”
TOKYO:A scene from an iconic 1988 Japanese animated movie that famously predicted Tokyo would win the right to hold the 2020 Olympics has the country abuzz on Friday over a possible cancellation of the games.
A scene from the movie “Akira,” set in 2019, shows a signboard counting down the days until the Olympics. The sign reads “147 Days Until The Games” and encourages citizens to lend their support to making the event a success. Underneath, someone has graffitied, “Just cancel it!” With Friday marking exactly 147 days until the opening ceremony on July 24, and talk of the possibility of cancelling the games due to coronavirus growing as the outbreak spreads in Japan, the topic “Just Cancel it!” is trending at the top of Japanese Twitter.
Virus’s Spread Puts a Question Mark Over Tokyo Olympics
The cyberpunk animated movie, set in a post-apocalyptic Neo Tokyo, is regarded as one of the most influential anime and science-fiction movies of all time, and has served as inspiration for properties from “The Matrix” to “Stranger Things.”
CYCLIST FROOME IN HOTEL LOCKDOWN
ABUDHABI: Cyclists including Britain’s Chris Froome awaited the results of coronavirus tests from their hotel lockdown Friday, after UAE Tour was abandoned when two Italian staff members tested positive. “The decision has been taken to ensure protection of all the race’s participants,” the UAE Tour organising committee said in a statement. It said the UAE health ministry would screen all the race’s participants, and administrative staff.