NHK has announced that its yearlong historical drama series for 2019 will be about Japan's involvement in the Olympic movement, focusing on the nation's first foray to the games in 1912 and its first time hosting them in 1964. The story will also, according to Kyodo News, cover "events that took place in-between."

It will be interesting to see how the show handles the 1940 Summer Games, which were to be held in Tokyo. The city was announced as the winner in 1936, but by the following year Japan was fighting in China: it forfeited hosting the event in 1938 as the government decided the country's resources should go toward the war effort.

For their part, the games' organizers in Japan had wanted to celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of the birth of the Imperial line in 1940 and thought the Olympics were the perfect opportunity to promote the celebration internationally and also fortify nationalistic pride to help Japan in its Asian crusade. The government, apparently, felt it could accomplish that mission without the Olympics. That was 76 years ago.