Nagano Olympics Look Good - As A Video Game
Satoshi Kushibuchi races down the Nagano Olympic slalom course at breakneck speed, pilots a luge down the Olympic Spiral, fearlessly leaps off the ski jump ramp to the roars of an unabashedly partisan home country crowd.
Who is this guy, Japan’s greatest athlete?
Hardly.
He’s a software designer for Konami Co., one of Japan’s biggest computer game makers. And Konami is counting on his virtual version of the Nagano Winter Olympics to bring in lots of gold.
But like many other companies banking on the Olympics, Konami is still waiting for the rest of the country to get into the spirit of the games, which begin Feb. 7.
“I think we will see a rise in the excitement level once we get into the new year,” said Gozo Kitao, head of Konami’s research and development department. “It hasn’t taken off yet, but we’re not worried.”
The game, which features 13 events from downhill skiing to Olympic newcomer curling, went on sale in Japan in December.
It will hit the shelves in the United States and Europe by late January under the name “Nagano Winter Olympics ‘98.”
“We expect it to be a big hit,” Kitao said.
Still, the run-up to the games so far has been marked more by disputes and controversy than expectations and excitement.
“Normally, the games would be important, but there have been too many negative things which will more than offset their impact,” said Michinori Shimizu, retail analyst at Morgan Stanley Japan Ltd. “Even companies which sell sportswear are not doing well.”
With about a month to go before the Nagano torch is lighted, organizers are just now ending a major dispute over the length of the men’s downhill, a marquee event.
Almost as soon as a compromise was reached, however, concerns switched to an even stickier problem, the weather. Winds, fog, rain, even a lack of snow caused by the El Nino warming pattern have been cited as potential threats to the games.
All this has dampened interest, even though Nagano’s will probably be the largest Winter Olympics ever, and will be only the second held in Asia.
The first Asian host city was Sapporo, in northern Japan. Those games in 1972 and the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics are generally regarded as major milestones in this country’s postwar history.
Nagano, however, will play host in a Japan that has already established itself on the world stage. And the games will open against the backdrop of the most serious economic blahs the country has seen in decades.
Takayuki Suzuki, senior analyst at Merrill Lynch Japan Inc., said the games won’t be a total bust and should produce an increase in tourism.
xxxx FROM THE CATALOG A sampling of the goodies in the official, 110-page catalog of Olympic licensed products: Solid gold Olympic medallions. The old standby, Nagano’s medallions will be of 34.5 grams of solid gold with motif of young woman, snowflake and mountains. A steal at $1,160. Official Olympic singalong karaoke CD. Performed by two well-known Japanese singers, one a native of the Nagano area. Music is in the Japanese style. ($8.50) Little Rika, the Ice Dancer doll. The immensely popular Little Rika is Japan’s version of Barbie, and here she’s on a platform spinning with her Ken-like pal, Isamu. ($46) Snowlets chopsticks. In a snazzy shade of yellow. ($3.50) Olympic tofu. That’s right, official recognition for bean curds. ($1.20 a pack)