Photo:Cui Meng/GT

After numerous difficulties, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games finally kicked off as scheduled on Friday night without an audience present.

Unlike previous opening ceremonies that used to be a merry gathering, there was a less happy atmosphere this year as only the athletes and about 950 related personnel were allowed into the stadium, including journalists who were busying reporting on the grand event.

As the ceremony and the games will not have audiences, some Japanese fans could only gather outside the stadium to greet athletes and media workers from all around the world.  

One Japanese youngster held a board saying "Welcome to Tokyo" in English outside the entrance to the opening ceremony stadium. He told the Global Times that he really wanted to say "thank you" to every foreign friend who made their way to Tokyo at such a special time.   

Topics related to the event were also popular on Chinese social media. 

Some Chinese netizens said they were touched to see the Olympics successfully open amid the pandemic. Some prayed for athletes' health and the smooth running of the event. 

Photo:Cui Meng/GT

But some fans of Japanese culture said they were a little disappointed in the performances at the opening ceremony, which they felt failed to show Japanese characteristics. There was also a lack of famous Japanese entertainers. They referred to the eight minutes featuring Japan at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games closing ceremony, saying that was better than the Friday opening ceremony and that it demonstrated Japanese culture more. 

Some also said they did not understand a performance at the beggining of the ceremony that was designed to mourn lives lost in the COVID-19 pandemic, which they said was like a dance in the underworld. "The opening ceremony was like just throwing all these performances together to finish it in a hurry," one netizen said.

Tens of thousands of netizens also flooded to Bilibili to watch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, with 70,000 people online at the busiest hour.  

Despite not understanding the meaning of some performances at the opening ceremony, netizens still felt it was important for this delayed Olympics to be held, in order to show a spirit of unity. At a time when COVID has profoundly changed the world, people across the world can still conquer difficulties and get together, a Beijing resident surnamed Chen told the Global Times. Maybe that's the charm of the Olympics, she said.

Chen shared her feelings with her friends on WeChat while watching the show. They recalled memories in places they used to travel to while watching different countries and regions parading at the ceremony and imagined visiting their favorite tourism destinations in the near future. 

Watching the parade is like taking a round-the-world tour, she said.     

"The opening ceremony is terse but forceful," Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Friday.

It helps to save money while ensuring a certain level of artistic and impressive effects. It is a proper choice for Japan given its current domestic situation, Zhou noted.

Zhou said he was impressed by the design of the lighting and chairs at the stadium. The chairs looked like there were people sitting on them. So although there was no audience, it did not feel strange when watching the ceremony, he said.

Zhou also enjoyed the segment in which more than 1,000 drones formed the Olympic rings and the Earth, demonstrating Japan's strong power in high technology.