Just in case anyone doubted the impact that video games now have on our society, let’s take a look at Japan’s introduction at last night’s Olympics closing ceremony from Rio De Janeiro.  Video games are a part of Japan’s identity and they showed the world that.  The image you see above is the Japanese prime minister sporting a Mario hat after he came up through a pipe.  This was preceded by an animated segment featuring Mario himself.

Of all of Japan’s potential rich culture and heritage, they chose to show us their video game and anime presence in the world.  I found this to be quite significant and pretty awesome.  This is one of the primary reasons my first out-of-country trip is going to be to Japan (hopefully next year!).