Asian Games Dispatch: Navigating Earthquake Safety and Endless Walks in Nagoya

Arrival and Safety

Landing in Nagoya for the Asian Games brings an immediate shift from the pandemic-era testing kits of Tokyo to a new set of local realities. The welcome kit features earthquake and tsunami safety guidance instead of medical tubes. Japan experiences around 1,500 earthquakes each year, and the government warns of a potential magnitude 8-9 Nankai Trough earthquake within the next 30 years, leaving Nagoya deeply vulnerable. Safety advisories, evacuation zones, and giant screens reminding people what to do in a disaster are visible across railway stations, the athletes' plaza, and competition venues.

Walking and Transit

A less dramatic hazard of covering the Games is the sheer amount of walking required. Step counts peak on October 1 when travelling between Nagoya, Obu, and Okazaki, covering 15.02 km on foot using a mix of trains and buses. Navigating Nagoya Station's complex underground passages, platforms, and shopping arcades easily disorients visitors. Local transport workers show remarkable courtesy, such as a bus driver who individually thanks every passenger boarding at the Tokai-dori stop, or a train staff member who steps out of the captain's cabin to ensure a lost foreign passenger gets off at the correct station.

Venues and Daily Life

Travel extends to remote locations like a secluded shooting range in a sleepy rural corner of Toyota City, surrounded by dense trees and hills. After a daytime drizzle, the weather clears into an orange sky and a rainbow. Back at the main media centre, popular chocolate cookies spark polite competition, with the last cookie of the evening shared between an Indian journalist and a Malaysian colleague after a brief exchange of courtesy.

Context

Japan's aging society is highly visible at the Games, where elderly men and women work for hours as volunteers at subway stations and venue gates to help tourists and athletes. A report by Japan Today notes that the country's population of people aged 100 or older has crossed one lakh for the first time.