Feb 2, 2022

This Friday, the 2022 Winter Olympics kick off in Beijing, the second Olympics to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first ever to be held on entirely artificial snow.

With omicron surging around the world, Japan Times sports reporter Dan Orlowitz tells us about the stringent measures put in place to allow these Games to take place, and how Japan is responding to the U.S. call for a diplomatic boycott of these Olympics. Later in the show, Dr. Madeleine Orr joins us to talk about how climate change is threatening the Winter Olympics, and why Beijing is so uniquely reliant on artificial snow.

first ever  初めての、史上初めての

first-ever co-hosted event  史上初の共催イベント

entirely ｲﾝタｲｱﾘｰ adv)まったく、完全に、すっかり

artificial

surge

stringent

put in place

respond

call for

diplomatic

boycott

later

threaten

uniquely

reliant

Well, Japan isn't committed to the full diplomatic boycott. They're hedging their bets because I think they want to maintain civil relations with China, if not friendly.

So they will be sending Japan Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita, they will be sending Seiko Hashimoto, who was the president of the organizing committee for Tokyo 2020. They will be sending Kazuyuki Mori, who's president of the Japan Paralympic Committee. They are officials, they are from the government, ostensibly, but Kishida is not going to fly over, you're not going to have any cabinet representatives in Beijing. And that lets China save face, it lets Japan save face, and it lets Japan be able to take the position that it is sort of standing in solidarity with the United States and its other allies who are doing this full boycott.

commit ｺミｯﾄｩ v)取り組む

committee　ｺミﾃｨ n)委員会

boycott ボｫｲｺｯﾄ n)ボイコット　v)ボイコットする

diplomatic ﾃﾞｨﾌﾟﾛマﾃｲｯｸ adj)外交上の

hedge one's bets 複数のものに賭ける、両面作戦をとる

hedge ヘｪｯｼﾞ v)策をとる、保険をかける、両掛けする

bet ベﾂﾄｩ n)賭け　v)賭ける

maintain　ﾒｲﾝテｲﾝ v)維持する

ostensibly ｵｽテﾝｼﾌﾞﾘｰadv)表面上は

solidarity　ｿﾘダﾘﾃｨ　n)結束、連帯、団結