World Athletics Championships in Tokyo - Day 8 (20-09-2025)

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And that makes seven. Thanks to Nadia Battocletti, we have broken the record for medals at a World Championships. Who would have thought that, after Stano's withdrawal and the problems experienced by Tamberi, Jacobs and the 4x100 team? I was still hoping we could equal the record, I didn't dare hope for more and, in any case, I would have been satisfied just to repeat the four medals won in Budapest. For decades, we said to ourselves, “Just think, once we won six medals”. Now, and I think for quite some time to come, we will say, “Just think, once we had never won more than six medals” (and the days when we were satisfied with winning one already seem a long way off).

As for the race itself, there isn't much to tell. The start was slow: first kilometre in 3:17, then the second in 3:03, the third and fourth just under 3 minutes, so much so that up to three laps from the end everyone was still in the group. With 500 metres to go Nadia makes her move, only Chebet, Kipyegon and Tsegay follow; then on the opposite straight the Kenyans overtake her, but the Ethiopian drops off: it's a medal. Between the last bend and the start of the home straight she still gives the impression she might catch the first two, but she can't – Chebet finishes first, Kipyegon second, Battocletti third. The home athlete finished twelfth, cheered on relentlessly by the crowd.

The day began with the race walk. I wondered how long it would take me to find the course – I wasn't sure I'd understood the map on the website. Following the flow (and remembering it was connected to the Marathon Gate) I found it, but it was hard to find a spot where you could actually see something: there were up to four rows of spectators. After all, it's the first time in ten years (or twelve, considering only the ones I've attended) that the World Championships have taken place in a country with a race walking tradition (though in Moscow the course wasn't crowded). After a while, I found a stretch where there was only one row, but it was a group that shouted slogans the whole time, something I've never heard at the stadium. After a bit I was dazed, but among them was a baby in a sling, sleeping happily. Eventually, I realised they were shouting "let's go" and the name of the athlete: the one they cheered for most was the Japanese competitor who was most behind, Ayané Yanai. However, towards the end they also cheered a lot for the one in the leading group, Yanako Fujii. Among the many Japanese flags, more than you usually see in the stadium, a few Chinese and Mexican ones appeared.

When I arrived, there was a leading group of seven, followed by a Chinese athlete and then Palmisano. After a couple of laps, the Italian stopped, right in front of me. She stayed a while talking, I suppose with her husband-coach, then left the course. Five kilometres from the end, the group was down to four, then three, then Perez broke away, followed by the Mexican Gonzalez and the Japanese Fujii. It was hard to keep track of the situation, given the number of lapped athletes. After the 18th km, I remembered it was the last lap and so went into the stadium, knowing I'd arrive with the race already finished. Indeed, I entered as the last athletes were finishing: I later read that the Japanese athlete just managed to hold off the Ecuadorian Torres for third place.

The first qualifying group for the discus was underway, featuring both Alekna brothers, who even share the same initial: after a while I realised it was the younger one who qualified directly, not the world record holder, but the other would easily make the top twelve as well. The final will feature eight Europeans and three Oceanic athletes (the twelfth was Cuban). Then came the 100 metres of the decathlon, with Warner withdrawing: Owens-Delerme won in 10.31, the others were all over 10.50.

I watched the start of the men's 20 km walk from the stadium, then left, but before going down I checked to see if I could spot the course from outside, and although it was quite far away, I could see a much longer stretch than you could from trackside. Of course, it was hard to distinguish the athletes, but I saw that everywhere along the course there were at least three rows of spectators, so I abandoned the idea of going down. I especially struggled to pick out the Italians, as there were so many white shirts: only after reading their positions on the website did I realise which ones were them. So I watched Cosi just behind the leading group for a while and Fortunato in the second group. Then Cosi was stopped for a penalty and Fortunato became the first Italian, eventually finishing 16th. Bonfim was easier to distinguish, his shirt more recognisable. Around the 16th km, Yamanishi took a small lead, but was then stopped. On the last lap, McGrath pulled ahead and looked to have it won, but when I moved to watch the passage towards the stadium, I found Bonfim in the lead. I then entered the stadium and this time saw the finish (though I had to wait: the stretch between that part of the road and the stadium entrance was longer than I'd thought). I saw the warnings and realised that the Brazilian's comeback was helped by having one fewer than the others.

I saw the discus being thrown and thought they were warm-up throws: instead, the second qualifying group was already in the third round. Shortly afterwards, the heptathlon long jump began, then the decathlon shot put. So there were four areas with very quick jumps/throws, hard to follow. I missed Brooks's 6.79; otherwise, not great marks, Hall stopped at 6.12, Thiam at 5.99, Gerevini at 5.80 and was 17th both in the event and overall. In the shot put Garland won with a personal best (17.02), ahead of Neugebauer and extended his lead.

In the evening I'd planned to watch a bit of the start of the heptathlon javelin and the decathlon high jump. The metro was quiet, I met a South African couple. Security checks were quick, but this time I was near the block of the first day and had to take a long walk to reach it. The stadium was almost completely full, only on the opposite side in the second deck were there a few empty seats. Around me were only Asians, the ladies to my left I suspected weren't Japanese from how they cheered for everyone and especially the Chinese, but then I saw they cheered the Japanese more anyway. Many Estonians were around, as it was decathlon day, along with the usual Jamaicans; this time I saw more Americans than usual. The last bend was covered with Algerian flags.

The events were further along than I'd expected: the javelin (where they throw in order of standings) was nearing the end of its second round. I saw that Gerevini had set a personal best, she was 10th at the time but would finish 13th, gaining two places in the standings, but only due to withdrawals, including Thiam's. With one event to go the podium seemed fairly settled: Hall-O'Connor-Brooks. In the high jump, Group A had already lost a few athletes, including Ehammer who ended with zero (there was a zero in the other group too, and another would come). Skotheim won at 2.14, followed by Garland at 2.11. The other group finished later, at 2.02.

The track events began with the relays. It started with the only one without Italy: the men's 4x400. In the first heat, the USA found themselves delayed in the third leg, I assume due to a changeover problem, but I couldn't see it (from my position it was hard to get an idea of the 4x400 exchanges): in the fourth leg they tried to come back, but faded at the end and finished sixth. Qatar was a surprise second (behind South Africa) with a national record. Very uneven heats: in the first, only one team under three minutes; in the second, all eight, though two would later be disqualified. Botswana won, fielding Tebogo but not the individual event champion. I now read that USA and Kenya were allowed to repeat the race.

Next was the women's event. Italy was in the first heat: Jamaica took off already in the second leg, then in the fourth, a team I thought was Great Britain made a break for second, but I later realised at the finish it was Norway (the British came last); then Poland, and Italy held off Spain for fourth place. In the second heat, the USA did more or less the same time as Jamaica and, given the gaps between fourth and fifth, it looked good for a non-automatic qualifier's spot. Indeed, the fourth-placed team (France) did slightly better than us, but the fifth (Canada) was a second and a half behind.

Then came the 4x100m relays. First up was the men's race, with Italy in the second heat, which was theoretically easier. In the first heat, Jamaica missed the final exchange and Canada won before the USA. In the second, Jacobs stumbled in his run-up for the exchange (I read later it was due to a collision with South Africa, who will get to rerun the race) and we were left behind. Melluzzo tried to recover on the anchor leg, but we finished sixth and last. A shame really, as qualification was only 0.18 away and Jamaica, Great Britain and (we thought) South Africa were out. Things went even worse for the women: Fontana got injured in the first leg. We managed to pass the baton, standing still, and continued, but finished in over 49 seconds. Fewer surprises compared to the men's race: the USA and Jamaica won their respective heats, with no major teams eliminated.

Meanwhile, the first five rounds of the women's shot put final were taking place, difficult to follow with the relays ongoing. I had watched the first throws, and not much had changed since then: the podium places remained the same from the first round, only Schilder improved, moving up to fourth. In the final round, however, there were no distractions: it was the only competition taking place and all the excitement was there. First, Roos improved, moving from fifth to fourth, but above all, Schilder, who was in fifth, threw 20.29 to take the lead. Then Jackson also threw beyond 20 metres, but it was not enough: 20.21. The last throw, by the New Zealander Wesche, who had started in the lead, also went over 20 metres: it probably wouldn't have been enough, but in any case, it was a foul.

The shot putters were replaced by the javelin throwers: their event started immediately afterwards, right besides them. It was the only field event, so it had all the scoreboards to it. Another event full of surprises: after a fairly normal first round, with the Australian Little in the lead, the Ecuadorian Angulo went ahead in the second with 65.12. Villegos was disappointing; after a disastrous start, she improved a bit but stayed in eighth. Little happened until the fifth throw, when the Latvian Sietna moved from eighth to third with 63.35. In the sixth, she improved again with 64.64 to take second place. Angulo finished with a throw that would have been enough for the podium anyway.

The track events continued with the heptathlon 800 metres. They all started together, using the 10,000m starting lines (so one group took the first bend in lane five). As expected, Hall won, Gerevini led the race and finished fourth, while Johnson-Thompson, third, claimed the bronze in a tie. Gerevini finished 13th, with a points total close to what was the Italian record before her. The group victory lap had to be limited to half a lap because of the start of the 5,000 metres.

After the aforementioned 5,000, the decathlon 400 metres followed. The first heat had only five athletes due to two withdrawals. The athletes were not introduced: we only found out who they were at the end (though you could recognise some of them). In the final heat, Ehammer did not start: as expected, Owens-Delerme won with 46.46. The first day ended with Garland leading by 160 points over Skotheim, followed by the aforementioned Puerto Rican and Neugebauer.

The grand finale was the 800 metres. Wanyonyi shot off and stayed in the lead until the home straight, but was then overtaken by Arop, while Sedjati was coming up from behind. However, he managed to recover and win, just 0.04 ahead of Sedjati and 0.09 ahead of Arop. All three ran under 1:42, everyone under 1:43.

World Athletics Championships in Tokyo - Day 7 (19-09-2025)

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Another day when it's best to start from the end. I have just witnessed one of the most unexpected medals in the history of Italian athletics, naturally if we are talking about athletes and not events. On the eve of a championship, I always identify three levels of possible medals: “realistic hopes”, “outsiders” and “possible miracles”. I didn't even consider this one a possible miracle, unlike the medal in the marathon. 

On the scoreboard, the triple jump event had been billed as a duel between Pichardo and Diaz. I’m in a great spot to watch it: first deck, ninth row, exactly in line with the take-off mark. When the athletes enter the field, following the jumping order, so led by Pichardo and Diaz, I spot another blue shirt and only then remember that Diaz isn’t the only Italian competing. Pichardo starts, and I immediately realise that my viewpoint isn’t ideal for judging the marks: looking at the metric bar, you tend to overestimate by nearly a metre. The Portuguese’s jump looks close to 18 metres, but it’s “only” 17.07. Diaz follows, but doesn’t even take off. The first round ends with Triki leading at 17.25, followed by Martinez with 17.16, and Dallavalle fourth on 17.00. I miss Pichardo’s second jump because I was watching an 800m semi-final, but from the crowd’s reaction (which is often exaggerated, precisely because many have a perspective that leads them to overestimate the marks), it’s clearly a very good one: 17.55. Diaz takes off a long way before the board (37 cm) and doesn’t finish the jump: 16.35. Immediately afterwards, Scott slots in with 17.19 and, above all, Martinez stretches out to 17.49. The third round starts with a jump from Pichardo that looks even better than the previous one, but it’s the same. Diaz finally completes a jump; it’s clear it’s not exceptional (and indeed he looks puzzled), but at least it allows him to continue: 17.19, fourth for now. I only catch sight of Dallavalle’s landing: it seems good, but I didn’t think it was that good: 17.24. The 17.08 in qualifying already seemed exceptional to me, after a missed season.

The third round closes with 4 athletes within just 6 centimetres, from Triki’s third place at 17.25 to Diaz’s sixth at 17.19. Dallavalle is 1 cm off the podium, but I think he’s already achieved so much and I still believe Diaz is more likely to win a medal. In the fourth round, nobody improves: Diaz does another jump that leaves him very disappointed, at 16.93, Pichardo makes 17.36. However, when Diaz stops on his fifth jump, touching his leg, I begin to think that if we want a medal, we have to pin our hopes on Dallavalle. And his fifth jump really gives hope: beautiful, with a very high "jump", I think he might have improved, but it’s 17.15.

And so we reach the final jump. Diaz completes his attempt, but it’s clear straight away that he’s not in the race: 16.81. After Scott’s foul, it’s Dallavalle’s turn: you can see immediately that it’s clearly better than his previous one, so probably medal-worthy, but he signals for calm. He even takes the lead: 17.64! But Pichardo still has a jump left; Dallavalle doesn’t look, but when he lands both know he’s overtaken him, in fact it’s 17.91. Pichardo gestures dramatically, Dallavalle goes to congratulate him, then both climb over the barriers and embrace their coaches and staff. That makes 6 medals, equalling the record, and 13 top-eight finishes, and it’s not over yet.

In the morning, I’d taken a stroll and met the Giorgi-Giupponi couple. The session was starting at 17:33 and this time I really had to be on time because Gerevini was in the first heat of the heptathlon 100m hurdles and after that there were no other events until 18:20. I see loads of people coming down from the tube and wonder if they’re all really heading to the stadium. They are: there’s a big crowd at the entrance, more than on previous days. I’m not surprised by the crowd itself: it’s the weekend and there’s the local idol Kitaguchi, I’m surprised that so many arrive just for the heptathlon 100m hurdles—if Gerevini hadn’t been competing, I might have skipped them myself. When I enter, anyway, there are still plenty of empty seats in my section, it’s fuller towards the bends, but by 19:30 (when Kitaguchi enters the competition) it will be almost full. Behind me I spot British and Irish fans, a few rows ahead there are some Belgians, in the next section there’s a group of Jamaicans and some members of the Italian delegation. Around the place, you can also see American, Finnish and Algerian flags. As I said, in the front rows of my block are the coaches for the triple jumpers.

In the first heat of the 100m hurdles, almost all arrive in a group and it’s hard to work out where Gerevini placed: she’s fourth, ahead of Thiam, and will be 12th overall. After the heptathlon hurdles comes an awards ceremony: I try to work out where it’s taking place, since I only see it on the screen, not live, then I realise it’s not in the stadium, it’s indoors. Four ceremonies are held, and you hear some unusual anthems like Trinidad & Tobago and Botswana. In the meantime, I go to the merchandise shop and am sorely disappointed: the T-shirts with the World Championships logo are only for sale online, there are some in collaboration with a manga my son tells me is “Attack on Titan”, but they’re sold out.

The competitions continue with the heptathlon high jump, where at first it’s hard to tell the two groups apart as they’ve had the bright idea of putting one scoreboard in front of the other group’s runway. Gerevini is in group B, the weaker one: she just scrapes through at 1.68, with the bar wobbling on the third attempt, then clears 1.71 and 1.74 confidently, but then stops. Hall and Thiam reach 1.89, Johnson-Thompson and two others clear 1.86. Then comes the key event for the Japanese: the women’s javelin qualification. Things go badly from the start for Kitanuchi, who throws 60.31 in the first round and improves by 7 cm in the second, but finishes seventh in her group, overtaken even by a compatriot. After the first round of the second group, she’s already 11th, and after the second round, she’s already out.

The “single” track races begin with the men’s 5000m heats. In the second, it’s only around the fourth kilometre that I notice Ingebritsen is competing, and he’ll just about qualify. A member of the refugee team led at the start, who will be dropped in the end, but not by much. Two out of three Kenyans are out, as are both Ugandans, Almgren and the Spanish athlete of Burundian origin (don’t make me write his name), with Girma and Laros withdrawing. Next are the women’s 800m semi-finals. Coiro is in the first: she runs a great race, in the final stretch she even seems able to challenge the top two, but finishes third and the time, 1:59.19, leaves little hope of advancing. In fact, in the second race, eight out of nine will go under 1:58. Before the triple jump, another field event begins, the heptathlon shot put, which is met with general indifference; the announcer mentions it at the start and then never again. Hall achieves a personal best with 15.80 and extends her lead in the overall standings, Gerevini gets close to her PB with 12.98 and is 17th.

The track finals begin. The men’s 400m hurdles is introduced as being all about Warholm, with no mention of rivals. But in the second bend, from the crossing of the hurdles, Benjamin seems slightly ahead, and as they enter the home straight he’s clearly in front. Warholm fades, overtaken by Dos Santos, Samba, and the Nigerian Nathaniel. The women’s race is billed as “Bol against the clock”. As expected, the Dutch athlete is well ahead from the start, followed by the Americans Jones and Cockrill, but in the final stretch the Slovakian Zapletalova surprisingly moves up to third.

It wraps up with three 200m races: first the heptathlon, then the two finals. In the first heptathlon heat, it looks like Gerevini has won, but she’s actually third, 0.04 seconds behind the winner. She’ll finish 10th overall and remains 17th in the standings. Hall, second, extends her lead again. In the men’s final, Levell enters the home straight in front, but is then overtaken by Lyles and Bednarek and, in the final stretch, Tebogo recovers from the inside, and I think he’s finished third if not second. But the podium is Lyles-Bednarek-Levell, Tebogo fourth. The winner’s time is a “normal” 19.52, but what’s striking are the times of those placed: 19.65 for fourth, 19.78 for fifth. The women’s final (with 9 athletes, I don’t know why) starts with an obvious false start, making the disqualification unavoidable. As they enter the home straight, Jefferson is already ahead of Jackson, but then the Jamaican fades, while Hunt comes from the inside lane and snatches second place. So, just like us, the British were expecting a medal from one athlete and it came from another.

On the metro I get chatting with a few fans: there’s a group of ladies in Jamaican colours who are actually British of Jamaican origin, two British girls who congratulate me on the Italian successes and regret not having won a gold yet, and a German who says something I never thought I’d hear five years ago, if not ironically: “Italy has so many strong athletes, more than Germany.”

World Athletics Championships in Tokyo - Day 6 (18-09-2025)

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Today is a day of settling down after yesterday's excitement. I am preparing for an evening without Italian protagonists: there are four finals, all without Italians (and in only one, the women's triple jump, was there any hope that there would be any) and three semi-finals, only one of which features Italians. However, I think back to the sessions where there were no Italians at all, which will be the case again on Sunday morning, as it is entirely dedicated to the decathlon. During the day, walking around the Shibuya district (which is not far from the stadium), I meet many team members, including a couple of Italians (not athletes).

This time, I’ve got a bit of flexibility for arriving at the stadium: in the first event there’s an Italian athlete, but it’s only the heats for the 5,000 metres, so it doesn’t matter too much if I arrive after it’s started. On the underground, I meet plenty of people heading to the stadium, including a few Australians: you always hear them when their athletes are announced, but until now I’d never actually seen any. I’d never seen so many people enter at once: the security checks are still quick, but then there’s a queue at the escalators (I’m back to the third tier today) and there’s no alternative stairs. I reach my seat when the heat is at the fourth kilometre. My section is packed, like almost the whole stadium, with only a few sectors half-empty: I can’t understand the huge difference compared to the previous two days. All around me I see only Japanese (or at least Asian) spectators. Later, when Rojas is announced, I’ll discover there are some Venezuelans a few rows behind.

The crowd cheers for the home athlete who’s in the lead group, even when, in the last lap, the outcome is already decided as only eight remain—the number who qualify. In the final straight, Chebet sprints and Battocletti follows at some distance, finishing second. The Ethiopian, Haylom, is out. In the second heat, the crowd is even more enthusiastic for the Japanese athlete who breaks away in the first lap and stays ahead until a kilometre from the end, but then loses ground. Maiori falls behind three laps from the finish, Del Buono at the start of the final lap; again, with 200 metres to go, eight remain, so there’s no sprint finish.

The women’s high jump qualifiers are also underway. I see Tavernini fail her first attempt at 1.83, but I don’t know what Pieroni did: it’s not shown on the scoreboard and the website isn’t working. I only work it out when I see her second attempt, which she also misses. Both then clear the height on their third try. Seven are already eliminated. It’s a foolish progression, which could be a final at a European championships if not at the World Championships: 1.83-1.88-1.92-1.95-1.97. At 1.88, the Italians never look likely to succeed (they even do a “synchronised jump”—the third for Pieroni, the second for Tavernini). Five go out, Tavernini is the only in her group. At 1.92, there are only eleven left and for twelfth place, at 1.88, five are tied: the result of such a rapid progression is that there are sixteen finalists! Cunningham and the Ukrainian Tabashnik are the only notable names eliminated.

The men’s javelin final starts early, but doesn’t generate much interest from the crowd. It begins with Weber, Peters and Chopra just under 85 metres, but the American Thompson and the Indian Yadav surprisingly go beyond that line. In the second round, Peters throws 87.38, overtaken by Walcott who achieves 87.83. The first two rounds suggest a close, hard-fought contest, but it’s practically over from here: only three improve from the third round onwards, including Walcott, and only by a little, with the positions remaining unchanged. So Walcott wins another World Championship, thirteen years after his Olympic gold, thanks to not being Italian (because, if he was, he wouldn’t have been selected, based on the rules we’d set). Podium: Trinidad and Tobago-Grenada-USA; reading it, you’d never guess it’s javelin. In Budapest and Paris, by the way, it was one of the few events without any Americans in the final.

On the track, the women’s 800 metre heats continue. In the third, Coiro stays at the back for a long time, pushes her way through with difficulty on the final bend, and in the home straight emerges from the group to finish third (the top three qualify). In the fifth, run at a very fast pace, Nagaayi and Reekie miss out on the top three: they manage to get through as non-automatic qualifiers, but the Brit only by two hundredths of a second. In the final heat, Bellò is never in contention and finishes last.

The other field final is the women’s triple jump. By the second round, it’s the only event left, so all five scoreboards on the track show its results. I’m in a great spot to watch, in line with the pit (more or less like yesterday, but two decks higher). The first jump doesn’t kill the competition outright, but it does put a strong marker down: 14.85 by Perez Hernandez. Rojas replies with 14.76. The Venezuelan seems to be making very short "steps"; reading the stats, I see it’s partly true (especially in this first jump, but less than it seemed). In the second round, Lafond also jumps 14.76 and moves into second on countback. Perez extends her lead: 14.90 in the third (which I miss), then 14.94 in the fourth. It comes down to the last round: Lafond’s jump looks very long and could take the lead, but she’s five centimetres short: 14.89. I later read that it was because of a mark left by her hair. Rojas’s jump looks a bit shorter, and indeed it’s 14.71. Gold to Perez Hernandez, hoping tomorrow another Hernandez will follow suit.

Meanwhile, on the track, the 200 metre semi-finals have taken place, first men’s, then women’s. Only now do I realise Van Niekerk is competing in the 200; he comes fourth in the first semi-final. In the second, Jamaican Levell fires to 19.78, even easing up at the end to beat Tebogo, but in the third Lyles responds with 19.51! The final is reached with 19.98.

Between the men’s and women’s semi-finals I realise I’m in the wrong seat: two-thirds through the programme, the rightful seat-holder arrives and I find out mine is three rows down (I’d misread it). The new seat is much better: not only is it a bit lower, there’s more legroom (it’s at the entrance level) and it’s on the aisle. First heat in which Jackson runs 21.99 and 22.13 gets you third place, in the second Jefferson responds with 22.00.

Then comes the only semi-final with Italians, the men’s 800 metres. Pernici races in the second: he leads from the front and, when McPhillips (to the delight of the Irish fans) and Burgin make their moves in the final stretch, for a moment it seems he might catch them, but then Brazier overtakes him and probably passes him. Seeing the winner’s time, 1:43.18, I think he might have broken the Italian record and, in any case, be in a good position for the fastest loser places. But the record is still just out of reach: he’s fourth with 1:43.84. In the third, seeing the winner again do 1:43.18 and so many close behind, I fear he’s out, and so it proves: not only the third, but also the fourth did better than him. This takes away some regrets, but he’s still out by just four hundredths.

The eagerly awaited 400 metre finals are left. In the men’s, Kebinatshipi is well ahead by the second bend, but in the final stretch Trinidadian Richards charges and nearly catches him, but stays second. Good time, but not exceptional: 43.53, bronze also to Botswana with a “normal” 44.20. In the women’s race: McLaughlin, Paulino and Naser immediately pull away from the others, but the American’s lead isn’t huge, though she increases it a bit in the closing stages. Seeing the others still close, I think she’s not doing as well as expected, but then I check the time: 47.80, later corrected to 47.78. Paulino 47.98, Naser 48.19. The first two run the second and third fastest times ever, the third beats the best-ever second-place time. The crowd hurries to leave, but the announcer warns that the judges are reviewing something, and the medallists don’t celebrate. When they start the interview for the men’s race's winner, I head out too, and the results are eventually confirmed.

ado anch'io, e infatti la classifica sarà confermata.

At the exit, there was the usual queue for the stairs. A volunteer gave directions only in Japanese, but gestured to indicate that we should go to another staircase. I went outside and took a moment to find where I am, because I had come out at a different point than usual. There was a volunteer with a sign showing (I suppose) the directions to the underground stations, but this was also only in Japanese. I can imagine the comments if something like this had happened in Italy.