On Oct. 20, 2019, Tokyo Stadium was home to the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match between South Africa and Japan. The match was sold out, with the 50,000-seat stadium overflowing with fans from around the world.
Almost two years and a pandemic later, the stadium on Wednesday sat empty for the finals of the OIympic rugby sevens match between New Zealand and defending champions Fiji.
To create some sense of atmosphere, pre-recorded fan noise was pumped into the stadium, but that was all but drowned out whenever light aircraft took off or landed at neighboring Chofu Airport. It was far from the electric atmosphere of those Rugby World Cup finals.