“It was a shame that the media could not see what a safe and wonderful place Fukushima is.” ー U.S. softball team coach Ken Eriksen.

The Sankei Shimbun, JAPAN Forward

The final softball match of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held at the Yokohama Stadium (Yokohama City) on July 27 saw Japan beat the United States 2-0 and take home the much-coveted gold medal. It has been 13 years since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when Japan last played against the U.S. for the gold.

However, it’s the popular U.S. team coach Ken Eriksen who has garnered the growing praise and appreciation in Japan.

As the opener for the Tokyo 2020 Games dubbed the “Recovery Olympics,” softball kicked off on July 21 and 22 at Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima City, prior to other competitions, and played a symbolic role in promoting to the world Japan’s reconstruction following the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Coach Eriksen, who stayed in Fukushima City, seemed to have enjoyed his time there. During a press conference after the game, he praised the tournament management, saying, “The best thing was the support from the people of Fukushima.”

Regretting the events’ no-spectator policy, he added, “It was a shame that the media could not see what a safe and wonderful place Fukushima is.”

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