Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears during the ‘Love Sport Tokyo 2020’ segment during the Closing Ceremony on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maracana Stadium on August 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Getty)
The prime minister of Japan came out of Super Mario’s pipe during the closing ceremonies at the Rio Olympics dressed as the famous game character.
Yes, really.
“Japan prime minister Shinzo Abe has made an appearance during the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympics, disguised as Super Mario,” said The UK Telegraph.
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears as Super Mario in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Getty)
Japan is hosting the next summer Olympics in 2020, and the presentation was designed to get people excited about that. It worked, judging from the social media buzz his performance created, with people on Twitter dubbing the Japanese PM “cool.”
Deadspin says the performance was part of “the traditional portion of the closing ceremony that previews the next Olympiad” and adds: “Mario was joined by Pac-Man and famous anime figures, as well.”
Watch:
The prime minister of #Japan
is awesome! 🇯🇵
See more photos of the performance here:
According to Forbes, Abe is 61-years-old and holds a bachelor of arts/science degree. He’s finishing “the third year of his second (non-consecutive) term,” said Forbes, which called his economic policies “Abenomics.”
The prime minister’s appearance caused a Twitter buzz. (Getty Images)
Forbes said Abe’s policies have “pumped billions of dollars into the world’s third largest economy.”
Twitter was impressed.
When the prime minister of japan shows up at the #ClosingCeremony dressed as mario you know video games are serious business
The Prime Minister of Japan just popped out of a Super Mario Bros. pipe in the middle of the arena after an AWESOME video presentation 😀😁😃😄😆
Now I feel really bad for thinking no Prime Minister of Japan could ever be cooler than Junichiro Koizumi. You did it, Shinzo! You beat him!
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WATCH: The Prime Minister of Japan as Super Mario in Rio