Medicine Hat native Mark Sakamoto will provide colour commentary on the CBC's broadcast of the Opening Ceremonies from the Tokyo Olympics and is producing a series of segments from Japan called Sugoi Tokyo, which will be featured online.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Another Medicine Hat native is off to the Olympics.
The News has confirmed that author Mark Sakamoto will provide colour commentary for the opening ceremonies in Tokyo on the CBC nationwide broadcast July 23, as well as provide ongoing vignettes about Japanese culture and the host city throughout the two-week event.
Officials with the network tell the News that during initial planning for the event in 2019, they had planned to engage Sakamoto, whose book on Japanese-Canadian family was gaining popular and critical acclaim.
At the delayed 2020 Olympics, he will have a marquee role during the opening ceremonies, describing the showcase event alongside National news anchor Adrienne Arsenault and Scott Russell, of CBC Sports.
“Mark’s voice, his roots, his thoughtful, mindful consideration of the world we are living in make him a perfect contributor in the on air commentary for the Opening Ceremony,” said Chris Irwin, executive producer of Olympic programming for CBC.
Sakamoto, who now lives in Toronto, is already in Japan working on producing segments, and was not available for comment.
His book, “Forgiveness,” details the coming together for his family and his paternal Japanese grandmother, who was in an Alberta internment camp during the Second World War, and his maternal Caucasian grandfather, who was a prisoner of war in Japan.
“His story, bridging both the Canadian and Japanese complicated heritage informed and reminded us of the important story we could tell,” said Irwin.
Last year Sakamoto was the host of a limited documentary series “Good People” regarding community-level response to societal issues, such as homelessness and gun control, which was broadcast on CBC’s documentary channel Gem.
The opening ceremonies will be live-streamed online starting at 4:40 a.m. (mountain), and will be replayed on the CBC main network later in the day.
A series of pieces on “the amazing and fascinating host city, titled “Sugoi Tokyo,” will be available online.
