“Pictogram Sequence” Goes Viral during the Opening Ceremony of Tokyo 2020
The creative pantomime, camera work, and sophisticated use of multi-purpose props has its roots in a popular Japanese TV show and as far back as kabuki theater.
The “Pictogram Sequence” (人間ピクトグラムシーケンス) captured the essence of amateur creativity and provided some much-needed comic relief during the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020 to a world still on edge from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Performed by the Japanese silent comedy act HIRO-PON, the “Pictogram Sequence” was reminiscent of the much-loved, semi-annual Japanese television show Kinchan and Katori Shingo’s All Japan Costume Grand Prix (欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞), which features amateurs who perform short skits that often mimic cinematic special effects.
The “invisible” running crew dressed all in white also evoked the traditional component of Japanese kabuki and bunraku theatre called kuroko (黒衣). While intended to be ignored, these actors played a vital role to set up props and vary the scenery in real time.
It seems like the cost of the Olympics just continues to grow larger with every quadrennial event. Countries spend colossal sums of money to beat out the competition for the rights to hold the Games. Construction of new stadia and other facilities leading up to each event runs into the billions of dollars. Each of the corporate sponsors spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars to gain access to a huge global audience. There is, moreover, always the undertone of dirty money in this mix.
Combined with the anxiety of holding Tokyo 2020 during the ongoing global pandemic with local sentiment squarely against this year’s Olympics, the entire nation of Japan is still somewhat on edge. It was against this backdrop that the Japanese silent comedy act HIRO-PON provided some much-needed comic relief with their creative “Pictogram Sequence” that went viral on the internet almost immediately.
Like Video Emoji
In case you missed it, the “Pictogram Sequence” featured a limited number of actors dressed in blue and white who performed live a series of 50 back-to-back skits to breathe life into all of the 50 pictograms used to represent 33 different sports of the summer Olympics. It did not require a big budget, demonstrated human creativity, and was thoroughly entertaining.
While it is difficult to find a video recording on YouTube that has not already been blocked by the IOC (or some other body), try searching for “Pictogram Sequence” in YouTube to get a glimpse of the 5 minute program.
During the first minute it seemed a bit amateurish for a live production intended for a global audience, but after only a few events I was hooked. Anna B had a similar reaction. She summed up the reaction by many non-Japanese viewers by tweeting,
Considering how Japanese viewers are particularly proud of their invention of Olympic pictograms for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, HIRO-PON’s act was perfectly fitting. It would not be surprising if many—if not all—of the pictograms for Tokyo 2020 end up as emoji for use on various SNS platforms. The team of HIRO-PON simply animated them in real life.
Many Japanese immediately recognized elements of each of their back-to-back skits as something out of a semi-annual television program that has been running in Japan since 1979.
Sort of Like “Matrix Ping Pong”
Thus far there have been almost 100 episodes of Kinchan and Katori Shingo’s All Japan Costume Grand Prix (欽ちゃん＆香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞) on the Nippon Television Holdings channel, and there is no sign that this insanely popular television program will disappear. It is sort of similar to America’s Got Talent. Every six months the show features approximately 30 solo and group acts of amateurs who perform a series of short skits in front of a panel of 10 judges. Most involve mimicking creative cinematic effects with costumes and props. Somewhat like the Olympics, the judges score each act on a scale of 1 to 20.
This show is a real crowd-pleaser in Japan and often captures 10 ~ 15% of the prime-time audience. Considering that each percentage is equivalent to approximately 1.2 million viewers in Japan, that’s quite respectable.
Snippets from this beloved, semi-annual event sometimes make their way in front of a global audience. Perhaps the most well-known performance is “Matrix Ping Pong,” which was the winning skit during the 28th competition in March 2003.
It was the table tennis version of the famous scene from the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix where Neo, aka Keanu Reeves, proved that he could literally dodge bullets.
If you look closely at the two photos in this article from the ~All Japan Costume Grand Prix, you will notice the “invisible” actors dressed from head-to-toe in black. HIRO-PON made use of this innovative skill, as well, but they attempted to get you to ignore the role of their running crew by dressing them all in white.
It turns out that the Japanese have a long history of employing this particular theatrical technique.
Roots in Traditional Fine Arts
Black clad stagehands called kuroko (黒衣) feature prominently in traditional Japanese kabuki theater to position props, move scenery, and assist with on-stage costume changes (“kuro” means black in Japanese). Their all-black appearance is to imply that they are not really there—even though many fans of kabuki go specifically to watch the kuroko in action. They are, in fact, the ultimate supporting actors.
Kuroko stagehands are also used in bunraku puppet theater. They do most of the “heavy lifting” on-stage. Often there are no strings attached to the marionettes of bunraku puppet theater.
Sometimes the stagehands are disguised not in black but in the same color as the background scenery. Kuroko are called namigo (波衣) when dressed to look like a wave at sea (“nami” means wave in Japanese). They are called yukigo (雪衣) when draped exclusively in white to blend in with a snow scene (“yuki” is the Japanese word for snow).
Thus, HIRO-PON drew upon a well-regarded historical tradition to develop their creative, all white kuroko (perhaps more of a yukigo).
A Breath of Fresh Air
Especially considering the ever-present threat of COVID-19 and the disheartening series of scandals that plagued Tokyo 2020 leading up to the start of the Games, “Pictogram Sequence” was truly a breath of fresh air and one part of the overall opening ceremony that was uniquely Japanese.
Finally, just when we thought that we would see no more of HIRO-PON, one of their members made a guest appearance during the post-show press conference in Japan!
In that sense “Pictogram Sequence” set the stage—so to speak—for the celebration of the Olympic athletes who are now finally able to demonstrate their remarkable abilities.
Link to Source: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/pictogram-dance-sequence-at-olympic-opening-ceremony-gets-people-asking-what-is
I thought that was the best part of the opening ceremony. Very cool and it felt very "Japanese". I would have liked to have seen more use of the drones. It was impressive that they were able to pull anything together given the current state of affairs. I was looking at the recent Covid case numbers in Japan - Yikes!!! and now you have a typhoon approaching. What's next, a plague of locusts o'er the land?