ABSTRACT
In the opening segment, 'Kimigayo', the Japanese national anthem was sung and the flag of Japan was projected onto the Stadium, while another flag was raised on the flagpole. A projected red circle on the Stadium symbolised the Japanese flag's Rising Sun. The makers of the Ceremonial Handover noted that the Japanese Arigato and its Brazilian equivalent, obrigado, are syntactically similar, 'somewhat uncanny, as Rio and Tokyo are cities on the opposite sides of the globe'. The Handover's visualisation and musicalisation of gratitude point to 'articulation' as multisensory, cross-cultural communication, but again with the help of varieties of bodily, digital and cinematic technology. The 'neat and streamlined' form of Tokyo supported by the Handover's directors obeys specific morphogenetic principles. The ceremony's anime frame is simultaneously internal and external to Japanese self-narration, enabling a particular form of animation, and maintaining a unique relationship with realism and filmic space.
