With less than one week to go before the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it feels appropriate to celebrate Japan’s participation in the Games by looking back at some of the country’s most memorable moments over the years, including some surprise team victories and heroic individual performances.
It all began for Japan back in Stockholm in 1912. The country has been a part of all but two of the events since — missing out in 1948 (along with Germany) due to its role in World War II, and boycotting Moscow 1980 in protest against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
Japan has won 439 medals at the Summer Games in total, the first of which came in 1920. Eleven years earlier, judo founder Jigoro Kano began his role on the International Olympic Committee.