The Winter Olympic Games will be held in Turin, Italy from February 10 to February 26. It is just less then 2 weeks away. When it comes to the Olympic Games, people get real excited in Japan. From several months before Olympic Game begins, we see many different commercials about them during almost every commercial break. We are made aware that it is the Olympic season by tremendous exposure to advertisement and information.

By the time the Olympic Games begin, we definitely are interested in the Olympic Games. The Olympics becomes like Super Bowl in Japan.

There is a huge difference between media devotion to the Olympic Games in America and Japan. Olympic Games are advertised very huge in Japan. Electric scoreboards say how many days to go to Olympic Games. Posters in trains, advertisement of Olympic Games on Soda cans, and all other small little things which remind us the Olympics are everywhere. We get in Olympic mode. We are kept informed of update information on Olympic Games and athletes on TV every single day. Conditions of athletes, their activities, injury, practice scenes, interviews and basically any information on Olympic Games would be broadcast. When an athlete is expected to get a gold medal he or she is put under huge pressure from media and the nation. The athlete knows that we are paying attention.

When an athlete comes back especially as a gold medalist, he or she appears on almost every news program of every TV channel. Praise they receive is enormous. Media broadcast thousand of the same winning scenes of athletes, and we really enjoy it. Some athletes show up in TV commercials as a representative of companies they work for.

Olympic Games sound formal and strict. The Sports industry might think Olympic Games are not the kind of sport event that most Americans enjoy as much as they do major American sports. That might be the reason they do not even advertise much.

Whether or not people watch Olympic Games, it would be nice if the Olympics are advertised a little bit more to just let people know there are Olympic Games coming.

The 20th Olympic Winter Games in Turin start on February 10th and continue through February 26. Events include the biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, skating, skiing, and ice hockey.