An estimated crowd of about 500,000 people screamed, clicked pictures and cheered for the Japan’s Olympic medallists as they paraded through Ginza on August 20, 2012. A total of 71 medallists rode in two open cars and five double-decker buses on the parade which began at 11 am.
The Olympic medallists included the silver medal winning women’s soccer team, judo, wrestling, track and field, volleyball and table tennis were seen wearing red jackets. Kohei Uchimura the male gymnastics champion was seen showing off his gold medal with a wide smile while he waved to the crowd lined up on the route.
Overall 38 medals were won by the Japanese at the 2012 London Olympics which were the most6 ever won by the Japanese Olympics team. Out of the total, seven were gold. But the medals were a huge encouragement for those who were still struggling in the country which is going through economic crisis and is also recovering from the last year’s deadly earthquake and tsunami.
The spectators of the parade said the medallists had boosted their spirits. Many people in the crowd had the Japanese flag emblazoned on one cheek and the numerical 15 for their favourite female football player on the other. Japan since last year has been struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami which took place in March.
