148-534: The Hokuriku Shinkansen ( Japanese : 北陸新幹線 ) is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line connecting Tokyo with Tsuruga in the Hokuriku region of Japan. It is jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The first section, between Takasaki and Nagano in Nagano Prefecture , opened on 1 October 1997 in time for the 1998 Winter Olympics , and
296-546: A snowflake , or a mountain flower, which refers to the importance of the natural environment to the city of Nagano. Similarly, Tokyo used cherry blossoms in its logo for its candidature for the 2020 Summer Olympics . Landor Associates conceived the official mascots that were used by the communication team for the Games. They consisted of four owlets, Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki , also called Snowlets . The names were chosen from more than 47,000 suggestions. Four represents
444-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
592-605: A book value of ¥11.8 billion and two from JR West, were damaged when a train yard in Nagano was flooded as the Chikuma River overflowed during typhoon Hagibis . As a result, JR West suffered a loss of ¥ 3 billion (2019) ( US$ 27.52 million). The original E2 series 8-car "J" sets, primarily used on Tohoku Shinkansen services were also used on some Asama services until they were subsequently lengthened to 10 cars. One specially-modified 200 series set, numbered F80,
740-512: A candidate to host the 1940 Winter Olympics (which were later cancelled), as well as the 1972 Winter Olympics , but had been eliminated at the national level by Sapporo on both occasions. The games hosted 2,176 athletes from 72 nations competing in 7 sports and 68 events. The number of athletes and participating nations were a record at the time. The Games saw the introduction of women's ice hockey , curling and snowboarding . National Hockey League players were allowed to participate in
888-571: A capacity of 20,000 spectators. Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium was the first ski jump built in Japan with parallel 90 and 120 K-point hills. The ski jumping stadium can accommodate 45,000 spectators. Snow Harp Kamishiro was built for cross country skiing and Nordic combined . It includes three tracks of 4.8, 4.8, and 7.8 kilometers, 6 meters wide. The stadium is another 1.2 kilometers. In total, Snow Harp has 19 kilometers of tracks. Up to 20,000 spectators can be accommodated. Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort , in
1036-409: A desire to create harmony between athletes and the natural surroundings are shown. In addition to the official poster, a separate poster was created for the opening ceremony. Marketing for the games cost the organizing committee 5.9 billion yen. These Olympic Games were sponsored by 11 worldwide partners, 8 gold partners, and 18 official supports and suppliers. Marketing revenues for sponsoring or for
1184-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
1332-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1480-665: A limited number of companies, with one company allowed to purchase the rights for any single product or service category, and these were based on previous Games, with adaptations for the local market. Sponsors were permitted to use the emblem and mascots as long as consent was obtained from the International Olympic Committee, Japanese Olympic Committee , and the NAOC. Hospitality packages for sponsors included priority for accommodations, tickets, and transportation services. The Sponsor Hospitality Village, next to
1628-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
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#17327733229591776-528: A local politician. A government committee deliberating the proposals decided in April 2016 to narrow the proposed route to three alignments between Tsuruga and Kyōto and two alignments between Kyoto and Shin-Ōsaka (a northern route through Minoh and a southern route through the Kansai Science City ). On 6 March 2017 the government committee announced the chosen route from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka
1924-482: A new company, Hapi-Line Fukui, established during the preparation phase, would take over the section between Daishoji and Tsuruga. Hapi-Line Fukui is expected to overtake the 84.3 km (52.4 mi) section of the Hokuriku Main Line effective the 16 March 2024 timetable revision. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of
2072-441: A new fleet of JR East E2 series 8-car sets. A fleet of 17 new E7 series 12-car trainsets were phased in from March 2014, and these were augmented by a fleet of 10 JR West W7 series 12-car sets introduced from March 2015. The fleet of W7 series was purchased at a cost of ¥32.8 billion. The remaining E2 series trainsets were withdrawn from Hokuriku Shinkansen services on 31 March 2017. In 2019, ten trains, eight from JR East with
2220-541: A new station underground near Kyoto Station. The third option is a newly constructed station near Katsuragawa Station, also underground. The route extension is estimated to cost up to 5.3 trillion yen and require up to 28 years to complete construction. Including the Obama-Kyoto route, the following four options were under consideration before the December 2016 announcement, with a fifth unofficial option suggested by
2368-671: A result of the abandonment of the proposed use of a GCT on the West Kyushu Shinkansen to Nagasaki by JR Kyushu, in August 2018 JR West announced that the proposed GCT between Tsuruga and Osaka had been abandoned. With the opening of the initial Nagano Shinkansen section in October 1997, the section of the conventional ( narrow gauge ) Shinetsu Main Line running along approximately the same route between Karuizawa and Shinonoi
2516-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
2664-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
2812-726: A traffic center for buses and cars in Karuizawa . Originally it was expected that both athletes and media delegations would arrive entirely via Narita International Airport , which did not happen given the high demand for plane tickets. So some delegations had to arrive via Kansai International Airport and Chubu Centrair International Airport in Nagoya The members of the IOC and the delegations who arrived in Narita traveled to Nagano via Shinkansen . To improve transportation for spectators,
2960-680: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
3108-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of
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#17327733229593256-450: Is 3 hours 8 minutes, 50 minutes shorter than using a conventional train between Kanazawa and Tsuruga. Legend: As of 2024, the maximum line speed is 110 km/h (70 mph) between Tokyo and Ueno, 130 km/h (81 mph) between Ueno and Omiya, 275 km/h (170 mph) between Omiya and Takasaki, and 260 km/h (160 mph) between Takasaki and Tsuruga. With the start of Nagano Shinkansen services, trains were operated by
3404-547: Is a record for Winter Olympics. Czech men's ice hockey team won the gold medal. In Ski Jumping , Kazuyoshi Funaki won two gold medals and one silver for host Japan . The American Figure skater Tara Lipinski became the youngest champion in Olympic history at the age of 15 years and 255 days. Germany dominated the medal table with 29 medals, including 12 gold. Germany was followed by Norway and Russia, who won 25 and 18 medals respectively. Canada , which finished fourth in
3552-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
3700-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
3848-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
3996-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
4144-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
4292-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
4440-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
4588-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
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4736-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4884-514: Is operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) instead of East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Many people speculated about and discussed what the line's operational name should be after Nagano–Kanazawa section is completed. Nagano economic associations argued a sudden change in name will confuse customers, propose "Nagano–Hokuriku Shinkansen" to be used. In contrast government officials and economic associations in Hokuriku region defended
5032-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
5180-431: Is the first indoor, long-track speed skating venue in Japan. It was built to accommodate 10,000 spectators. The venue, which gets its name from its M-shape, representing the surrounding mountains and harmonize with the skyline, is approximately 5 kilometers from Nagano Station. Finally, White Ring , with a maximum capacity of 7,351 spectators, was built for figure skating and short track speed skating . White Ring, which
5328-449: Is the main sporting venue of the south of city,is on nearby Shinonoi Station area, and approximately 9 kilometers from Nagano Station . Outside from their structure,the stadium, resembles a cherry blossom , a symbol of Japan . During the Games the structure could accommodate 50,000 people. But with 15,000 temporary stands added, but now with permanent structures can accommodates until 35,000 spectators. Big Hat Arena named for its shape,
5476-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
5624-548: Is to be via Kyotanabe, with a station at Matsuiyamate on the Katamachi Line . There are also requests from Kyoto City and Kyoto Prefecture, local governments along the route, to further extend the line to Kansai Airport . In an attempt to extend the benefits of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to stations west of Tsuruga before the section to Shin-Osaka is completed, JR West was working in partnership with Talgo on
5772-646: Is to use the Joetsu Shinkansen to Echigo-Yuzawa Station , then transfer to Hakutaka via the Hokuetsu Express , rendering using the Takasaki–Nagano section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen meaningless for them. Therefore, JR East sought other names. On the other hand, local governments in Hokuriku, fearing construction west of Nagano may be halted, petitioned that the name "Hokuriku" should remain in use for operational purposes. JR East announced
5920-431: Is used as a public gymnasium, is approximately 6 kilometers from Nagano Station. Hakuba village is situated 50 kilometers west of the city of Nagano. Hakuba hosted three Olympics sites. Alpine skiing's downhill, super-G and combined were situated at Happo'one Resort . Three courses between altitudes of 840 meters and 1,765 meters were used, one for the men's, women's and combined for both men's and women's. The site has
6068-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
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6216-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
6364-587: The 1964 Summer Olympics , thus becoming the first venue in the world to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics . To accommodate the athletes and officials during the Games, the Olympic Village was constructed in Imai district, approximately 7 kilometers south of Nagano Station. Along with the construction of the village, Imai Station was opened in 1997. The village was constructed by
6512-513: The 1968 Winter Olympics but lost to Sapporo, the winning Japanese bid, who lost to Grenoble , France , and Sapporo eventually won the right to host the 1972 Winter Olympics . Japanese private sector organizations, in 1983, began publicly discussing a possible bid. Two years later, in 1985, the Nagano Prefectural Assembly, decided to begin the process to bid, for its third time, for a Winter Olympics. The bid committee
6660-641: The 1998 Winter Paralympics from 5 to 14 March. These were the final Winter Olympic Games under the IOC Presidency of Juan Antonio Samaranch . The hosting of the games improved transportation networks with the construction of the high-speed Shinkansen , the Nagano Shinkansen, now the Hokuriku Shinkansen , between Tokyo and Nagano Station , via Ōmiya and Takasaki . In addition, new highways were built, including
6808-552: The 2002 Winter Olympics , US$ 4.35 billion for the 2006 Winter Olympics , US$ 7.56 billion for the 2010 Winter Olympics , and US$ 51 billion for the 2014 Winter Olympics Nagano is situated at the Japanese Alps area and receives large snowfalls every year. These combined to make transportation an important challenge for the organizing committee. In addition, the Olympic Village was a distance of 7 kilometers from
6956-563: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered
7104-628: The E7 series 12-car trains which entered service in March 2014 ahead of the March 2015 opening of the extension beyond Nagano. The Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Nagano to Kanazawa opened in March 2015. The 113-km extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga was approved for construction in June 2012. From the start of the revised timetable on 15 March 2014, E7 series trainsets were introduced on Asama services. Initially used on seven return services daily, this number
7252-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
7400-581: The Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as
7548-659: The Jōshin-etsu Expressway , were also built in the Nagano region. In May 1993, the 75.8-kilometer section of the Nagano Expressway was completed, and in October 1997, the 111.4 kilometer section of the Jōshin-etsu Expressway was completed. In addition, another 114.9 kilometers of roads within Nagano Prefecture were improved. Transportation systems for the Games ran for 33 days, from the opening of
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#17327733229597696-739: The Nagano Expressway and the Jōshin-etsu Expressway and upgrades were made to existing roads. In 1932, Japan won the rights to host the 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo . At that time, organizers of the Summer Olympics had priority in choosing the venue for the Winter Olympics the same year. Several Japanese cities, including Nagano, prepared a bid. Sapporo was chosen; however, the games never took place because of World War II . In 1961, Nagano declared its intention to host
7844-665: The Nagano Olympic Stadium , welcomed 32,000 guests. To promote awareness of the sponsors, advertising was done in various media from 1995, and on banners and buses immediately before the games. Dick Pound noted, during the Games, the excellence of the marketing program, citing the " perfect example of how the private and public sectors can work together ". The Games had 11 Worldwide Olympic Partners, eight Gold Sponsors and 18 Official Supporters and Suppliers. Worldwide Olympic Partners: Gold Sponsors: Official Supporters and Suppliers: From 7 February 1997,
7992-551: The Nagano prefectural government spent ¥29.6 billion, and the cities and towns of Nagano, ¥23.4 billion; Hakuba , ¥1 billion; and Nozawa Onsen , ¥1.1 billion; shared the remaining ¥25.5 billion. The most expensive venue was impressive M-Wave , the indoor rink which hosted the long-track speed skating events. It cost near ¥34.8 billion. The two ice hockey venues, Big Hat and Aqua Wing Arena cost ¥19.1 and ¥9.1 billion respectively. The White Ring (arena) , which hosted figure skating and short-track speed skating cost ¥14.2 billion,
8140-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
8288-663: The Spiral , which hosted bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton, cost ¥10.1 billion. Another ¥8.6 billion was spent on the Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium , ¥7 billion for Snow Harp – the cross-country skiing venue, and ¥3 billion for the biathlon venue at Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort . The organizing committee financed all costs, totaling ¥113.9 billion. It spent ¥99.4 billion for operational expenses, ¥21.6 billion for public relations, ¥20.7 billion for installations, ¥18.4 billion for telecommunications, ¥15.9 billion for running
8436-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
8584-556: The XVIII Olympic Winter Games ( Japanese : 第18回オリンピック冬季競技大会 , Hepburn : Dai Jūhachi-kai Orinpikku Tōkikyōgi Taikai ) and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( Japanese : 長野1998 ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano , Nagano Prefecture , Japan, with some events taking place in the nearby mountain communities of Hakuba , Karuizawa , Nozawa Onsen , and Yamanouchi . The city of Nagano had previously been
8732-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
8880-520: The men's ice hockey for the first time. Azerbaijan , Kenya , Macedonia , Uruguay , and Venezuela made their debut at the Winter Olympics. The athlete who won the most medals at these games was the Russian cross-country skier Larisa Lazutina who won five medals, including three gold. The Norwegian cross-country skier Bjørn Dæhlie won four medals, including three gold, which took his total Olympic medal total to 12, including eight gold, which
9028-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
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#17327733229599176-545: The 62 International Olympic Committee members and many of their companions. The precise figures are unknown since Nagano, after the IOC asked that the entertainment expenditures not be made public, destroyed the financial records, according to bid member Junichi Yamaguchi . Five months after the city was selected, the Nagano Olympic Organizing Committee (NAOC) was created. Eishiro Saito , Chairman of Japan Business Federation (Keidanren)
9324-757: The Athletes Village until 3 days after the Paralympics closing ceremony, when the Village was decommissioned from its functions. Approximately 64% of the athletes arrived between 1 and 6 February, and 74% left Nagano between 22 and 25 February. Logistical operations were directed from the operational centre situated at the Organizing Committee headquarters. Two regional logistical minor hubs were created in Hakuba and Yamanouchi , as well as
9472-512: The Games. The cost and cost overrun for Nagano 1998 compares with costs of US$ 2.5 billion and a cost overrun of 13% for Vancouver 2010, and costs of US$ 51 billion and a cost overrun of 289% for Sochi 2014, the latter being the most costly Olympics to date. Average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is US$ 3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%. For the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, a total of fourteen sports venues, all within Nagano Prefecture , were used. Construction of these venues, and of
9620-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
9768-676: The Nagano Olympics and the Olympic Games, a logo of the relay, and of Coca-Cola. 72 nations participated in the 1998 Winter Olympic Games for a total of 2,176 athletes, of which 787 were female and 1,389 were male. With the addition of five countries and another 439 athletes since the 1994 Winter Olympic Games at Lillehammer , Norway , these were the largest Winter Olympics ever at the time. The nations of Azerbaijan , Kenya , Macedonia , Uruguay , and Venezuela participated in their first Winter Olympic Games. Iran returned to
9916-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
10064-442: The Olympic Museum. In February 1999, one year after the Games, the IOC awarded the Nagano the Olympic Cup , and presented the city a replica of the sculpture of stylized athletes raising the Olympic Flag by the Swiss artist Nag Arnoldi. The costs of construction and of the land of the Olympic venues totaled ¥106.6 billion, approximately 914 million US dollars . Of this, the Japanese national government spent ¥51.1 billion,
10212-476: The Olympic Stadium which hosted the ceremonies, began in 1990 and lasted until 1997, with construction and land costs totaling 106.6 billion yen. The most expensive venue constructed for the games was the multi-use arena who hosted the speed skating events M-Wave built 5 kilometers from Nagano Station . Between March 1996 and November 1997, these sites were tested with 16 different World Championship events, World Cups, and another international competitions to allow
10360-433: The Olympic Village, including the Honorary Mayor Yasuko Konoe , Mayor Shozo Sasahara , and Deputy Mayors Takanori Kono , Hiroko Chiba , and Shun'ichi Bobby Hirai . Because the curling arena was in Karuizawa, 90 kilometers away, a satellite village was built in Karuizawa, 7 kilometers from the arena. It was open from 4 to 16 February 1998. In addition, a section of the Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel , 58 kilometers from
10508-445: The Olympic Village, was reserved for 180 snowboarders and officials. In addition to athletes and officials, members of the Olympic and Paralympic family and other personnel were housed in 900 hotels and another structures in Nagano and surrounding regions, which represented 234,207 nights between 24 January to 25 February 1998. The members of the International Olympic Committee stayed in the Kokusai 21 Hotel in downtown Nagano. In total,
10656-567: The Olympic family included 18,350 people. Finally, two media villages were built in the districts of Yanagimachi , near Nagano Station, and Asahi, across the street from the M-Wave. The Olympic torch was lit by sunlight during a ceremony organized by the Temple of Hera at Olympia , Greece on 19 December 1997. Vassilis Dimitriadis, a Greek alpine skier started the Greek leg towards Athens where
10804-556: The Osaka–Kyoto route, with construction expected to begin in the late 2020s and take about 25 years, after impact assessment procedures for areas along the line are completed. Since March 2015, services on the line are split into four types, with train names as listed below. Trains operate over the Joetsu and Tohoku Shinkansen tracks between Tokyo and Takasaki. The original Nagano Shinkansen Asama services, introduced in 1997, replaced
10952-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
11100-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
11248-545: The arenas used, which were mostly larger than those used four years earlier but slightly lower than the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary . Tickets sales were a success in the domestic market, as the Japanese people finished the process of purchase with a reservation list of 6 million. For the most popular events, a lottery system was used. In total, ticket sales raised 10.5 billion yen for the organizing committee. The ice hockey matches represented 295,802 tickets sold, 26% of
11396-409: The center of the city, and sporting events were spread over five surrounding cities. The complicating matters were that many of the venues had one single road in-out, which limited possibilities and led to traffic jams. To improve access to Nagano, the government decided to link the prefecture with the high-speed shinkansen train network. Called Nagano Shinkansen (now the Hokuriku Shinkansen ), it
11544-562: The city of Nagano as public and low coast residential housing, and loaned to the organizing committee during the Games. The Village occupies an area that is 19 hectares, composed of 23 buildings with a total of 1,032 apartments. Temporary restaurants and shops were also available during the Games. The Village was open for the Olympics from 24 January to 25 February 1998 and 1 to 19 March for the Paralympics, and accommodated nearby 4,000 people. Several prominent people were recognized as faces of
11692-492: The committee. The number of committee members was 511. On 12 February 1990, the bid delegation presented its candidature at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne before Juan Antonio Samaranch. Other candidate cities for the 1998 Olympics were Aosta , Italy ; Jaca , Spain ; Östersund , Sweden ; Salt Lake City , United States , and Sochi , Russian SFSR , Soviet Union (now Russia ). The host city selection
11840-481: The competitions, and ¥14.4 billion for administration. Television rights were worth ¥35.4 billion, and marketing earned ¥31.3 billion. Ticket sales were worth ¥10.5 billion. The total cost of the Nagano Games is estimated to have been US$ 15.25 billion (in 2015), of which the largest factor in the cost of the games was the extension of the shinkansen to Nagano. This compares, for example, with US$ 2.5 billion for
11988-491: The conventional Shin'etsu Main Line limited express services, also named Asama , which previously took 2 hours 50 minutes from Tokyo ( Ueno Station ) to Nagano. Following the opening of the Shinkansen, part of the conventional line was abandoned between Yokokawa and Karuizawa . This section included the steeply-graded Usui Pass which required the use of bank engines on all trains. Travel time between Tokyo and Tsuruga
12136-462: The development of a Gauge Change Train (GCT), which was proposed to be capable of operating under both the 25 kV AC electrification used on the Shinkansen and the 1.5 kV DC system employed on conventional lines. The six-car train was due to start trials on the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the 1067 mm-gauge Hokuriku and Kosei lines in 2017. As part of the project JR West had begun trials with a purpose-built 180 m-long gauge-changer at Tsuruga. However, as
12284-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
12432-697: The end of March 2014. Test-running on the entire line between Nagano and Kanazawa (Hakusan Depot) started on 1 August 2014, using the "East i" test train. Test-running using W7 series trains commenced on 5 August 2014, initially at low speed, on the JR West section between Kanazawa and Jōetsumyōkō . In the months preceding the opening, JR West conducted various low speed runs on the new Kanazawa - Tsuruga section using " East i " test trains on 23 September 2023. Runs using regular W7 series trainsets started on 26 September. Regular passenger service began on 16 March 2024, with ceremonies at both Tsuruga and Tōkyō from
12580-485: The environmental stewardship committed during the Winter Games. The site can accommodate 10,000 spectators. Finally, the town of Karuizawa , approximately 80 southwest of Nagano, hosted the curling events at Kazakoshi Park Arena . The venue was built as a multi-purpose venue. Its ice surface is 60 meters by 30. Its maximum capacity is 1,924 spectators. The town of Karuizawa also hosted the equestrian events at
12728-434: The five third-sector operating companies and their respective lines are as shown below. In 2019, it was decided that the section of the Hokuriku Main Line between Tsuruga and Fukui would be transferred to third-sector railway operating companies. Three years later in 2022, it was determined that the section would be split among two operators. The IR Ishikawa Railway would extend their operations from Kanazawa to Daishoji, while
12876-512: The flame into one. After that, the unifield flame was used to light another torch held by then lit a cauldron who lited a torch held by Juan Antonio Samaranch . On the early hours of the 7 February morning, the final leg started and the flame travelled another 10 kilometers to the Olympic Stadium and the figure skater Midori Ito lit the cauldron at Nagano Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonies. The Olympic Flame Relay in Japan
13024-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure
13172-416: The following solution at July 25, 1997: Soon, "Nagano- bound Shinkansen" fell out of use, and timetables by various publishers use "Nagano Shinkansen" only. Construction to Kanazawa was officially decided, thereby reducing the opposition to the name. Construction of the extension from Nagano to Kanazawa was completed on 24 May 2014. When services commenced in March 2015, the travel time from Tokyo to Toyama
13320-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
13468-796: The handover ceremony was held at the Panathenaic Stadium .The flame burned from 27 to 30 December in the Ginza area, and from 31 December to 4 January in the Yoyogi Park .On the morning on that day the flame was split into three and taken by plane to three destinations: the Eastern Japan route, starting from Hokkaido ; the Pacific Ocean route, starting from Kagoshima ; and the Sea of Japan route starting in Okinawa .On 23 January,
13616-424: The host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging
13764-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,
13912-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
14060-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
14208-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
14356-463: The legal name, including statements such as "a just result should come after 3 prefectures striving for 40 years". Section west of Jōetsumyōkō belongs to JR West, which did not state an opinion and used "Hokuriku Shinkansen" only. On October 2, 2013, JR East announced formal line name will be Hokuriku Shinkansen (consistent with National Shinkansen Railway Development Act ) and depicted as Hokuriku Shinkansen (via Nagano) to reflect its expansion into
14504-517: The medal table with 15 medals, including six gold, had its most successful Winter Olympics up until that point. The host was selected on 15 June 1991, over Salt Lake City , Östersund , Jaca and Aosta . They were the third Olympic Games and second Winter Olympics to be held in Japan, after the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo . The games were succeeded by
14652-401: The number and hours of local trains were extended. During the heaviest traffic days, more cars and buses were put in service and up to 68 parking areas, for 8,000 vehicles were at available for various Olympic delegations, and another 17 parking areas for 23,000 cars for spectators. Approximately 1,200 vehicles had navigation systems which transmitted their locations in a GPS system. As one of
14800-426: The number of years between each Olympic Games, and also represent the four elements , fire, air, earth, and water. The official poster for the Games was designed by the graphic designer Masuteru Aoba presented a thrush perched on ski poles with light in the background shining on snow-capped mountain peaks. Here, as with the emblem and the mascots, the importance of the natural environment in these Olympic Games and
14948-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
15096-566: The organizers to prepare for the running of the Games. Five new venues were used, localized all inside city of Nagano urban area . The project to build the Olympic Stadium and the 4 arenas already existed before the idea of the bid. However, these plans were accelerated soon after the submission of the proposal to the Japanese Olympic Committee, since Nagano did not have any infrastructure to host events such as concerts or international congresses. The Nagano Olympic Stadium
15244-412: The organizing committee put up for sale 1,286,000 tickets for the various competitions and ceremonies. The number of tickets sold was 1,149,615, which represented 89.4% of available tickets. Including people connected to the Games, the total number of spectators was 1,275,529. This number was slightly higher than in 1994 as a result of the greater availability of tickets. This reflected the total capacity of
15392-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
15540-450: The outturn cost of the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics at US$ 2.2 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 56% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by
15688-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
15836-538: The prefectural and municipal governments through which the lines pass. A total of 252.2 km (156.7 mi) of route between Nagano and Kanazawa was transferred to four separate operating companies, including 75.0 km (46.6 mi) of the Shinetsu Main Line between Nagano and Naoetsu , and 177.2 km (110.1 mi) of the Hokuriku Main Line between Naoetsu and Kanazawa. Details of
15984-420: The principal aims of the Games was to respect nature, many vehicles were considered ecological or semi-ecological. In addition, there were more than 100 electric vehicles, hybrid mini-buses and other environmentally-friendly vehicles. The emblem of the 1998 Winter Olympics consisted of a stylized snow flower with each petal representing an athlete participating in a winter sport. The figure could also represent
16132-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
16280-471: The region, resolving the naming issue. Test-running on the JR East section of the line between Nagano and Kurobe-Unazukionsen commenced on 1 December 2013, initially at low speeds using the " East i " test train. From 6 December, test-running commenced using 10-car E2 series trainsets, with running speeds gradually increased to the full line speed of 260 km/h (160 mph). Test-running continued until
16428-612: The respective presidents of JR West and JR East . The extension cost ¥ 1.67 trillion ( US$ 15.22 billion) to build. In accordance with the opening of the extension, the limited express service Thunderbird ended its service between Tsuruga and Kanazawa on 15 March 2024. The route of the final section from Tsuruga to Ōsaka was finalized on 20 December 2016 as the Obama–Kyoto route. JRTT proposed three possible stations in Kyoto at an August 8, 2024 meeting. Two options include
16576-531: The rights to use the emblems and mascots of the Games totaled 31.3 billion yen. Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki, also known as the Snowlets, are the 1998 Winter Olympic mascots and are four snowy owls. They represent respectively fire (Sukki), air (Nokki), earth (Lekki) and water (Tsukki) and together they represent the four major islands of Japan. The development of Rights Packages were based on International Olympic Committee policy of offering exclusive rights to
16724-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
16872-526: The second point, the organizers attempted to minimize the impact on their nature and the local ecosystem. Regarding the third point, an international truce organized by the United Nations in 1997 was adopted during the games. The Nagano Olympics Games are a link to the 21st century, inspiring our search for wisdom for the new ear, respect for the beauty and bounty of nature, furtherance of peace and goodwill. Friends worldwide are welcome to share, in
17020-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
17168-673: The spirit of competition and fair play, the joys and glory of the XVIII Olympic Winter Games. In June 1998, four months after the Games, the NAOC presented a donation of US$ 1 million to the Olympic Museum in Lausanne . This value come of the revenue of tickets sales and another actions from the committee. In October of the same year, NAOC also donated the 3-D high vision theater and some structures that were used in Nagano Olympic Villages to
17316-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
17464-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
17612-483: The three flames arrived on Nagano Prefecture and toured their 120 cities and municipalities. Finally, they arrived in Nagano City on the night of 6 February. The following day, after traveling through each district of the city, the relays arrived on the same time at the central square where three former athletes passed the flames to three members of the organizing committee who lited a celebration cauldron gathering
17760-590: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". 1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics , officially known as
17908-474: The total. Tickets sold for alpine skiing totaled 166,092; for ski jumping , 96,000, and speed skating , 93,000. For multiple sports, ski jumping, Nordic combined , freestyle skiing , all three skating disciplines, bobsleigh , and curling , as well as the ceremonies, all tickets were sold. By contrast,due the local demands and low interest only 56.6% of the 146,000 available tickets for cross-country skiing were sold. The Oxford Olympics Study established
18056-405: The town of Nozawaonsen , was site of biathlon . Nozawa is approximately 50 kilometers north of Nagano. At Nozawa Onsen, the stadium was built around six existing tracks. Two tracks, of 4 kilometers and 7 kilometers, were used for the Games. The stadium can accommodate 20,000 spectators. Two sites in the town of Yamanouchi , approximately 30 kilometers northeast of Nagano, were used. Giant slalom
18204-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
18352-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
18500-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
18648-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
18796-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
18944-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
19092-490: Was chosen as the host of the following 2002 Winter Olympics . Following a 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal that occurred in the summer of 2000, Atlanta , host of the 1996 Summer Olympics , Nagano , and Sydney , host of the 2000 Summer Olympics , were suspected of similar improprieties in bidding practices. Although nothing illegal was ever done, gifts to IOC members were considered morally dubious. The Nagano Olympic bid committee spent approximately $ 14 million to entertain
19240-467: Was eliminated. Finally, Nagano prevailed over Salt Lake City by just 4 votes in the fifth round of voting, becoming the third Japanese city to host the games after Tokyo in 1964 Summer Olympics and Sapporo in 1972. Nagano, at 36°N , is the southernmost city in the Northern hemisphere to host the Winter Olympics ( 1960 Winter Olympics host Squaw Valley, California is 39°N ). In June 1995, Salt Lake
19388-714: Was established in July 1986, they submitted their bid to the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) in November of the same year. Other Japanese cities that were bidding were Asahikawa , Yamagata , and Morioka . 1 June 1988, the JOC selected Nagano in the first round of national voting, receiving 34 of 45 votes. In 1989, the bid committee was reorganized, with the Japanese Prime Minister as head of
19536-451: Was followed by two groups of 11 vehicles and more than 20 people. The shape of the torch represented a traditional Japanese torch called taimatsu . It was built with aluminum, which was 55 centimeters long, and weighed 1.3 kilograms. The exterior of the torch was painted silver, to represent winter. Runners wore blue and white uniforms mixing the main look of the games colour blue and the white as snow. The runners' uniforms included logos for
19684-639: Was held at Mount Yakebitai at Shiga Kogen Resort , at an altitude between 1,530 and 1,969 meters. The site can accommodate 20,000 spectators. Also in Shiga Kogen, at Mount Higashidate , giant slalom events in Alpine skiing and snowboarding were held. Kanbayashi Snowboard Park was the site of the half pipe events. The track is 120 meters long and 15 meters wide, with walls of 3.5 meters. 10,000 spectators can be accommodated at Kanbayashi. The town of Iizuna , approximately 12 kilometers northwest of Nagano,
19832-483: Was held in Birmingham , United Kingdom, on 15 June 1991, at the 97th IOC session . After the first round of voting, Nagano led, with Aosta and Salt Lake City tied for last. Aosta was eliminated in a run-off against Salt Lake City. After the second round of voting, Nagano led with Salt Lake City in second, and Jaca was eliminated. Following round 3, Nagano continued to lead, with Salt Lake City in second, and Östersund
19980-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
20128-407: Was inaugurated five months before the start of the Games. This reduced by half the travel time between Tokyo and Nagano, to 79 minutes for 221 kilometers. The length of the track between Takasaki Station and Nagano Station is 125.7 km, which includes 63.4 km of tunnels. The high speed train network carried 655,000 passengers during the Games. Two highways, the Nagano Expressway and
20276-406: Was increased to eleven return services daily from 19 April 2014. The line's legal name has always been Hokuriku Shinkansen. However, just before the opening of the Nagano section, JR East has decided that using this name in passenger service is to be avoided. From March 22, 1997, until the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa, the primary route for Hokuriku customers (from the Tokyo area)
20424-457: Was limited to 210 km/h (130 mph). The last services operated using eight-car E2 series trainsets ran on 31 March 2017, from which date all Asama services were formed of E7 and W7 series trainsets. The initial section between Takasaki and Nagano opened on 1 October 1997, in time for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Between May 2012 and March 2014, station platforms on the Nagano Shinkansen had their platform roofs extended to handle
20572-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
20720-631: Was originally called the Nagano Shinkansen ( 長野新幹線 ) . The extension to Toyama in Toyama Prefecture and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture opened on 14 March 2015. Construction of a further section onward to Fukui and Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture , covering 125 kilometers and six stations, commenced in 2012 and opened on 16 March 2024. The route of the final section to Shin-Osaka was decided on 20 December 2016 as
20868-403: Was reduced to about 2 hours, with Kanazawa an additional 30 minutes away. Final permission to start construction to Fukui was granted in December 2011, with modification works to Fukui Station already in progress for several years in anticipation of the extension. The extension to Tsuruga was approved for construction on 30 June 2012, and opened on 16 March 2024. Beyond Jōetsumyōkō Station, the line
21016-704: Was replaced by Makoto Kobayashi in 1993. The organizing committee recognized three goals for the games, which they referred to as "Games from the Heart": promote youth participation, coexistence with nature, create a festival with peace and friendship at its centre. To realize the first goal, a camp bringing together 217 young people from 51 countries was created, along with the program of "One school, one country" in Nagano Prefecture. This program organized cultural exchanges with other countries. In addition, more than 100,000 tickets were reserved for children. For
21164-781: Was selected as president of the committee. There were four Vice Presidents: Goro Yoshimura , the Governor of Nagano Prefecture; Hironoshin Furuhashi , president of the Japanese Olympic Committee ; Yoshiaki Tsutsumi , the president of the Ski Association of Japan; and Tasuku Tsukada , the Mayor of Nagano City. In addition, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Home Affairs , Tadashi Tsuda, served as director-general. Tsuda
21312-412: Was sponsored by Coca-Cola , lasted 33 days and travelled 1.162 kilometers. A group of 5.5 million people took part in relay activities. Over the distance of the relay, which was run or skied, the flame was always followed by a group of six people: the main runner who carried the flame, some who accompanied the carrier, and four people in supporting roles, for a total of 6,901 people. In addition, each relay
21460-516: Was the principal venue of ice hockey tournament . Big Hat, located approximately 2 kilometers from Nagano Station, had a capacity of 10,104 spectators. Aqua Wing Arena was the second ice hockey arena at the Games. Shaped like a wing, it had a capacity of 6000 during the Olympics. After the Games, it was modified into an indoor swimming 25m pool. Aqua Wing is approximately 5 kilometers from Nagano Station. Its closest stations are Kita-Nagano Station and Asahi Station . M-Wave, used for speed skating ,
21608-616: Was the site of freestyle skiing and bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton at Iizuna Kogen Ski Area . 8,000 spectators can watch the free style skiing on a course that 250 meters long and 12,000 can watch the jumps. The Spiral, which held the sledding events, was the first artificially refrigerated track in Asia. It is 1700 meters long, with a difference in height of 114 meters and 15 turns. At the Spiral, approximately 40,000 saplings , mainly beech and oak , were planted two per square meter, as part of
21756-547: Was transferred from the control of JR East to a newly established third-sector railway operating company, Shinano Railway , becoming the Shinano Railway Line . With the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension north of Nagano on 14 March 2015, the conventional lines running along approximately the same route were transferred from the control of their respective JR owning companies to newly established third-sector railway operating companies funded primarily by
21904-469: Was used on additional Asama services in February 1998 during the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano. The train was modified to operate on both 25 kV AC 50 Hz and 60 Hz overhead power supplies, incorporated weight-saving measures to comply with the 16 tonne axle load restriction, and included additional control equipment to cope with the 30 ‰ gradient of the Nagano Shinkansen. Its maximum speed
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