2020 TOKYO!!!!

"The Olympics are coming - my neighborhood is going to be crowded!"

Akira Kato lists Fort Lee, NJ, as his hometown tho' he's been back in his birthplace, Tokyo, for over a decade.

Within moments of the International Olympic Committee that Tokyo, Japan, was chosen over Turkey, Brazil and Spain, to host the 2020 Olympics -
Akira's pride spilled onto the Internet!

Japanese living in Fort Lee and surrounding areas of North Jersey shared the excitement.....especially since most of them are like Akira and his younger brother, Makoto, "kikoku shijo".  Japanese youngsters attending school in New Jersey for a few years during their fathers' business transfer.

And some of those, like Itsuki Tsuchida, 11, who speak English and Japanese- they will be college students in 2020. 

Japanese college students Masaaki Ueda told me many years ago, never study.  The  goal in Japan is to pass college exams and get into the best schools in Japan (universities like Harvard or Oxford are not the goal, except for graduate schools to gain an MBA and bring the expertise back to "Japan, Inc."

Those college years are for "arubeito" - or part time jobs to earn spending money.

Our Fort Lee kids will corner the English/Japanese translating-guide albeit business, says Mark Miyagawa, enviously.  He is already working full-time!