PyeongChang Olympics 2018 Inspection Report [Part 1] ~Is PyeongChang Surprisingly Not That Cold!?~

Hello. This is Tanimura from the President’s Office.
In this blog, I will share an on-site inspection report from the PyeongChang Olympics.

Let me get straight to the point—SUNNY SIDE UP and sports are inseparable!

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics just two years away, we are so enthusiastic that we share weekly updates on Twitter about the construction progress of the new National Stadium! Naturally, we also infiltrated this quadrennial winter festival.

Our destination: PyeongChang, South Korea.

The news had been reporting daily that PyeongChang was an extremely cold place, so I naturally went fully equipped. However, I geared up too early. The airport and the local high-speed train were very warm—actually hot! I wanted to remove my inner layers multiple times.
※For those planning to go, please be careful.

I brought all of this, but ended up returning home without using a single item…

Now, let me return to the main topic: the inspection.

The PyeongChang Olympics are divided into two major areas. There is PyeongChang, which houses the stadium—the symbolic venue where the opening and closing ceremonies are held—as well as venues for alpine skiing and ski jumping. Then there is Gangneung, which hosts venues for figure skating and hockey. We had to cover both areas within limited time.

We arrived at the station full of enthusiasm.

The nearest station had very little—or rather, almost no—sense of liveliness. The Olympics are happening, right? (^_^;)

Despite feeling slightly uneasy, we boarded the van we had arranged and started the inspection right away!

Following the list I had prepared in advance, I cross-referenced it with the map and communicated our destinations to the driver. All addresses had been translated into Korean. I thought things would go smoothly, but… the driver started saying something. Apparently, the travel time would be quite long. And our appointment with the client was approaching…

I thought I had been thoroughly prepared, but the outlook was grim—it seemed we wouldn’t be able to visit all the inspection sites on our list. The driver didn’t understand English at all. Our time limit was 24 hours. I was getting anxious. To make matters worse, our impatient sunny-side-up egg president was traveling with me. This is bad, really bad…

At that moment, a voice inside me said:

“Travel is an adventure.”

Alright, I have no choice but to enjoy it.
(Actually, I was extremely anxious.)

And so, using a translation app to communicate with the driver, we managed to establish a form of exchange—albeit clumsy—and our unusual journey began!

~Detailed on-site inspection report to follow in Part 2!~