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Olympic Committee (Japan)

日本オリンピック委員会

Last modified: 2018-07-02 by zachary harden
Keywords: olympics | japan |
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[Olympic Committee (Japan)]
image by Zachary Harden, 25 August 2017

See also:

Introduction

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC; 日本オリンピック委員会, Nippon Orinpikku Iinkai) was formed in July of 1911 as the Japan Amateur Sports Association. The organization became indepdent of the JASA in August 1989 and, as of this writing, hosted three Olympic games (Tokyo Summer 1964, Sapporo Winter 1972 and Nagano Winter 1998) and are organizing a fourth one for the summer of 2020 in Tokyo.
Zachary Harden, 25 August 2017

Description

The flag is a logo on white. The logo, the "first emblem" according to the JOC is the national flag placed above the Olympic rings. While the adoption of the flag is not certain, the emblem was adopted in 1962 and was designed by Tatsuo Wakino of the Japan Skating Federation Council (nee Saito) at the request of Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda (then a committee member of the JOC).
Zachary Harden, 25 August 2017

Ceremonial flag

[Ceremonial flag]
image by Zachary Harden, 26 June 2018

Before each Olympic competition, a special flag is presented from the Japanese Olympic Committee to the main flag bearer of the opening ceremony. This banner is a dressed-up national flag with an imperial scroll on the hoist side of the flag. The gold on purple text reads "Granted by His Imperial Highness Prince Chichibu" (秩父宮殿下御下賜). This flag is not used in any ceremonies outside of Japan and stays in the country. At the end of the Olympic competition, the flag bearer hands the flag back to the JOC to signify the dissolution of the Olympic team.
Zachary Harden, 26 June 2018

Olympians Association of Japan

[Olympians Association of Japan]
image by Zachary Harden, 20 September 2017

The Olympians Association of Japan (日本オリンピアンズ協会, Nippon Orinpianzu Kyōkai, OAJ) was founded in September 2003 to organize the current and former Olympic athletes from Japan to promote sport but also the Olympic Movement. It is also a member of the World Olympians Association. The emblem of the OAJ is the Olympic rings on top of a lit torch; on this torch is the Japanese flag. This emblem, whose adoption date is unknown, is used on a white field for the OAJ flag. This flag can be seen here.
Zachary Harden, 20 September 2017

Japan Olympic Academy

Current:

[Olympians Association of Japan]

Pre-2011 Olympic ring modification:

[Olympians Association of Japan]
images by Zachary Harden, 03 October 2017

For the Japan Olympic Academy (日本オリンピック・アカデミー, Nippon orinpikku akademī), it was founded in 1970 and it develops future Japanese athletes to get them ready for Olympic competition. The emblem, whose creation date is unknown, is the monogram "JOA" in gold placed on top of the Olympic Rings. There are two versions of the JOA flag, mostly to correspond with the changes of the Olympic Rings (pre-2011 with the interlocking rings with an outline and the current pattern with the interlocking rings with no outlines).
Zachary Harden, 03 October 2017

Flag bearers

GAMES    	            FLAG BEARER	            SPORT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018 Pyeongchang            Noriaki Kasai (OP)*     Ski Jumping
                            Nao Kodaira (CL)        Speed Skating
2016 Lillehammer (YOG)      Ito Masamitsu           Ski Jumping
2016 Rio                    Keisuke Ushiro          Athletics
2014 Nanjing (YOG)          Akane Yamaguchi         Badminton
2014 Sochi                  Ayumi Ogasawara         Curling
2012 Innsbruck (YOG)        Sumire Kikuchi          Speed Skating
2012 London                 Saori Yoshida           Wrestling
2010 Singapore (YOG)        Ayuka Tanioka           Table Tennis
2010 Vancouver              Tomomi Okazaki          Speed Skating
2008 Beijing                Ai Fukuhara             Table Tennis
2006 Turin                  Joji Kato               Speed Skating
2004 Athens                 Kyoko Hamaguchi         Wrestling
2002 Salt Lake City         Eriko Sanmiya           Speed Skating
2000 Sydney                 Kosei Inoue             Judo
1998 Nagano                 Hiroyasu Shimizu        Speed Skating
1996 Atlanta                Ryoko Tamura (OP)       Judo
                            Yuko Arimori (CL)       Wrestling
1994 Lillehammer            Reiichi Mikata          Nordic Combined
1992 Albertville            Tsutomu Kawasaki        Short Track Speed Skating
1992 Barcelona              Kumi Nakada             Volleyball
1988 Calgary                Seiko Hashimoto         Speed Skating
1988 Seoul                  Mikako Kotani           Synchronized Swimming
1984 Sarajevo               Tadayuki Takahashi      Figure Skating
1984 Los Angeles            Shigenobu Murofushi     Hammer Throw
1980 Lake Placid            Osamu Wakabayashi       Hockey
1976 Innsbruck              Masaki Suzuki           Speed Skating
1976 Montreal               Katsutoshi Nekoda       Volleyball
1972 Sapporo                Mineyuki Mashiko        Ski Jumping
1972 Munich                 Masatoshi Shinomaki     Judo
1968 Grenoble               Takaaki Kaneiri         Hockey
1968 Mexico City            Yukio Endo              Gymnastics
1964 Innsbruck              Sadao Kikuchi           Ski Jumping
1964 Tokyo                  Makoto Fukui            Swimming
1960 Squaw Valley           Junko Ueno              Figure Skating
1960 Rome                   Takashi Ono             Gymnastics
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo      Hiroshi Yoshizawa       Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined
1956 Melbourne              Shozo Sasahara          Wrestling
1952 Oslo                   Tsuneo Sato             Speed Skating
1952 Helsinki               Bunkichi Sawada         Athletics
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Kazuyoshi Oimatsu       Figure Skating
1936 Berlin                 Kenkichi Oshima         Athletics
1932 Lake Placid            Unknown
1932 Los Angeles            Mikio Oda               Athletics
1928 Sankt Moritz           Subaru Takahashi        Cross-Country Skiing
1928 Amsterdam              Yonetaro Nakazawa       Athletics
1924 Paris                  Unknown
1920 Antwerp                Unknown
1912 Stockholm              Yahiko Mishima          Athletics
Ed. Notes: YOG - Youth Olympic Games. Games were played in the same year until 1994 which started with winter, then summer. Until those games, his list will have summer first, then winter, in the terms of order.
* - Sara Takanashi (Ski Jumping) was named as an alternate flag bearer in early January by the JOC due to Kasai unable to attend the opening ceremony; he later was present at the ceremony and carried the flag.