The deadline for this issue came, frustratingly, midway through the Tokyo Olympics. At this point it is too early to gauge with any authority what the legacy of the Games will be. We know Japan’s athletes have got off to an exhilarating start, winning gold medals in judo, gymnastics, in the pool and elsewhere. But we also know that daily Covid-19 cases in the capital are soaring and, according to one report, could reach 10,000 by the end of August. Whether the current wave is in any way related to the presence of tens of thousands of Olympic-related visitors will become apparent over time. For now, it seems appropriate for the Number 1 Shimbun to stay on firmer ground and report on what out contributors witnessed as this bizarre fortnight of elite sport got under way. Asger Røjle Christensen describes the hoops through which visiting journalists have had to jump to cover Tokyo 2020, while Nicolas Datiche captures the atmosphere inside the main press center in a series of photos. The indefatigable Mark Schreiber has resoled his walking shoes to revisit the architectural legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the doomed 1940 Games. Elsewhere, the winners of the FCCJ’s Freedom of the Press awards, Saori Ibuki and Swe Win, explain what motivates them, David McNeill reviews the English-language edition of Shiro Ito’s book, Black Box, and Ilgin Yorulmaz examines the cost to women of the pandemic in Japan. We are also fortunate to be able to publish an extract from Tokyo Redux, the final part of David Peace's critically acclaimed Tokyo Trilogy.