The attendees of the “escorted and controlled tour” programme had signed a pledge: No straying from the tour. No talking to residents. The consequence of breaking the rules: possible deportation.
The sun was setting and the tour guide pointed out a perfect place for pictures of the quintessential Japanese scene: gleaming skyscrapers jutting up behind the garden’s pine trees carefully trained to bend as bonsais. The bus steamed onto the expressway, where tolls had been raised to discourage local drivers in order to accommodate Olympians.
The bus arrived at the museum in the dark. There, the journalists wandered the empty hall alone. Many trained their cameras on an exhibit about the 1964 Olympics, held less than two decades after World War II. At that opening ceremony, 8,000 white pigeons were released as a symbol of peace.