The Tokyo Games organizing committee has decided the marching order at next year's opening ceremony's parade of nations will be determined using Japanese-language names and Japan's "50-sound" phonetic order, sources close to the games said Thursday.

The decision to thrust the Japanese language into the spotlight at the iconic parade of athletes was made in the hope of promoting Japan's culture on the world's biggest stage when the postponed Olympics start on July 23.

Athletes from participating nations in Japan's past three Olympics — the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo and the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano — all marched according to English alphabetical order to emphasize international understanding.