Salon Wanderlust | Apres moi, de luge

T A B L E_T A L K
What's the best way to get cheap airplane tickets? Share your tips in Table Talk

R E C E N T L Y
Higher! Faster! Wetter!
By Gary Kamiya
Our half-Japanese man in Japan reports on the thrill of victory -- and the agony of Nagano
(02/09/98)
Mondo Weirdo
By Sarah Schmelling
Why I loved being lonely and sick and far from home
(02/06/98)
Soba, so good
By Koji Yoshii
Savoring Nagano's specialty food
(02/05/98)
The big steamy?
By Courtney Weaver
Searching for sex in New Orleans
(02/04/98)
Fear, drugs, and soccer in Asia
By Karl Taro Greenfeld
Hedonistic expats: Fear, drugs and soccer in Asia
(02/02/98)

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Feature archives

Après moi, de luge!
GETTING A HALF-SECOND HIGH FROM
THE SPORT THAT GIVES A WHOLE NEW MEANING
TO THE EXPRESSION "BALLS OUT."

Top: Armin Zoeggeler of Italy takes a run in the mens luge at the Spiral during the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BY GARY KAMIYA
NAGANO, Japan -- Would someone tell the emperor to stop following us around? On the day of our absurdly failed mission to meet our Japanese relative, as we stumbled through the vast bright subterranean arcades of Tokyo Station -- why are there so many kiosks hawking gift-wrapped boxes of candy? -- we came upon a horde of immaculately uniformed policemen cordoning off an area. A couple hundred curious onlookers soon gathered -- a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of people who were streaming through the station at incredible speed. In a few moments, the arrival of His Royal Highness was announced by a scurrying of supernumeraries, a procession of blank-faced men with dark glasses and ear pieces and the stately entrance of an admiral or some kind of military majordomo in a dazzlingly white suit. A policeman who had gone out of his way to show us how to use the phone -- he actually handed my dad some of his own coins, as did a guy next to us who was waiting to use the phone -- abruptly apologized and dashed back to his station. Then the emperor and empress appeared, dressed in elegant (possibly new) clothes, to scattered applause. He waved genially to his subjects, and I waved back until my father whispered, "I don't know if you're supposed to do that." The return of the Ugly Americans! We beat the sheepish retreat of the protocol-impaired. "Don't you think it's a little strange that the emperor takes the subway?" my father said.
The next day, he popped up again. We were taking a bus to the Media Center in Nagano, where I was hoping to find someone drunk enough or mentally incapacitated enough to ignore the fact that I had missed the application deadline by four months and give me a press pass. As we rode along toward my humiliating rejection, we noticed that the curbs were lined for dozens of blocks with people avidly waving Japanese flags. "What's going on?" my father asked the bus driver. "Tenno heika" (emperor), he replied. The emperor's motorcade roared past behind us, on its way to the Opening Ceremonies (where tickets were being scalped for a reported $5,000). Whether the lukewarm veneration displayed in the Tokyo subway or the all-hail-mighty-emperor enthusiasm of the Nagano hordes represents the actual Japanese attitude toward Akihito I am not in a position to say.
My application for Supreme Media Poobahship was received in the most polite fashion by several helpful ladies, who courteously showed me the door. A media pass would have basically given me the Golden Key to the Olympics, instead of the grovel-in-the-snow-you-dog status I now rejoice in. I am seeing these Olympics the way any clown would who showed up with a fistful of tickets to mostly grade-B events -- no figure skating, no snowboarding, etc. -- and a hotel room way out of town. Logistics end up dominating your life when you are a civilian.

N E X T+P A G E+| Human express trains

PHOTOGRAPH BY CLIVE BRUNSKILL /ALLSPORT
Archived images are provided by Allsport Photography USA, Inc. all rights reserved, any redistribution, resale, re-print or other use is strictly prohibited without written consent from Allsport Photography USA, Inc. directly.


T A B L E_T A L K What's the best way to get cheap airplane tickets? Share your tips in Table Talk R E C E N T L Y Higher! Faster! Wetter! By Gary Kamiya Our half-Japanese man in Japan reports on the thrill of victory -- and the agony of Nagano (02/09/98) Mondo Weirdo By Sarah Schmelling Why I loved being lonely and sick and far from home (02/06/98) Soba, so good By Koji Yoshii Savoring Nagano's specialty food (02/05/98) The big steamy? By Courtney Weaver Searching for sex in New Orleans (02/04/98) Fear, drugs, and soccer in Asia By Karl Taro Greenfeld Hedonistic expats: Fear, drugs and soccer in Asia (02/02/98) Browse the Feature archives		Après moi, de luge! GETTING A HALF-SECOND HIGH FROM THE SPORT THAT GIVES A WHOLE NEW MEANING TO THE EXPRESSION "BALLS OUT." Top: Armin Zoeggeler of Italy takes a run in the mens luge at the Spiral during the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY GARY KAMIYA NAGANO, Japan -- Would someone tell the emperor to stop following us around? On the day of our absurdly failed mission to meet our Japanese relative, as we stumbled through the vast bright subterranean arcades of Tokyo Station -- why are there so many kiosks hawking gift-wrapped boxes of candy? -- we came upon a horde of immaculately uniformed policemen cordoning off an area. A couple hundred curious onlookers soon gathered -- a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of people who were streaming through the station at incredible speed. In a few moments, the arrival of His Royal Highness was announced by a scurrying of supernumeraries, a procession of blank-faced men with dark glasses and ear pieces and the stately entrance of an admiral or some kind of military majordomo in a dazzlingly white suit. A policeman who had gone out of his way to show us how to use the phone -- he actually handed my dad some of his own coins, as did a guy next to us who was waiting to use the phone -- abruptly apologized and dashed back to his station. Then the emperor and empress appeared, dressed in elegant (possibly new) clothes, to scattered applause. He waved genially to his subjects, and I waved back until my father whispered, "I don't know if you're supposed to do that." The return of the Ugly Americans! We beat the sheepish retreat of the protocol-impaired. "Don't you think it's a little strange that the emperor takes the subway?" my father said. The next day, he popped up again. We were taking a bus to the Media Center in Nagano, where I was hoping to find someone drunk enough or mentally incapacitated enough to ignore the fact that I had missed the application deadline by four months and give me a press pass. As we rode along toward my humiliating rejection, we noticed that the curbs were lined for dozens of blocks with people avidly waving Japanese flags. "What's going on?" my father asked the bus driver. "Tenno heika" (emperor), he replied. The emperor's motorcade roared past behind us, on its way to the Opening Ceremonies (where tickets were being scalped for a reported $5,000). Whether the lukewarm veneration displayed in the Tokyo subway or the all-hail-mighty-emperor enthusiasm of the Nagano hordes represents the actual Japanese attitude toward Akihito I am not in a position to say. My application for Supreme Media Poobahship was received in the most polite fashion by several helpful ladies, who courteously showed me the door. A media pass would have basically given me the Golden Key to the Olympics, instead of the grovel-in-the-snow-you-dog status I now rejoice in. I am seeing these Olympics the way any clown would who showed up with a fistful of tickets to mostly grade-B events -- no figure skating, no snowboarding, etc. -- and a hotel room way out of town. Logistics end up dominating your life when you are a civilian. N E X T+P A G E+\| Human express trains PHOTOGRAPH BY CLIVE BRUNSKILL /ALLSPORT Archived images are provided by Allsport Photography USA, Inc. all rights reserved, any redistribution, resale, re-print or other use is strictly prohibited without written consent from Allsport Photography USA, Inc. directly.