Japan’s Prime Minister emerges as Super Mario during Rio Olympics closing ceremony

(Photo credit: Telegraph and AFP)

The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, made a spectacular appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The footage begins with a bright animation of Mario in Tokyo alongside Doraemon and has him jumping down a green pipe with a red ball plummeting into the earth to emerge from Maracana stadium where the ceremony was held. Mario emerges from the green pipe in the stadium to the delight of the audience with the red ball and tips off his hat. His overalls drop to reveal Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan, hiding in the Mario disguise.

This was all to commemorate the following 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo, Japan. The Olympic flag was then lowered and passed along by the mayor of Rio de Janeiro to the Head of the Olympic Committee and finally presented to the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike.

Japan has so much pride for their anime, manga, and characters known worldwide. Earlier this month, Forbes reported how Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike is such a big anime fan that she wants to coin Tokyo as ‘anime land’. Sugoi! She has been known to cosplay as her favorite characters for Halloween.

Video via Full Entertainment Today

from Nerd Reactor