--- title: Shinzo Abe Dresses as Super Mario for Rio Closing Ceremony description: Japan's prime minister dressed as the iconic Nintendo video game character, donning a suit and hat and holding a red ball canonical: https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-22T09:44:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:43:51.689Z og:title: Shinzo Abe Dresses as Super Mario for Rio Closing Ceremony og:description: Japan's prime minister delights crowds as iconic Nintendo character og:url: https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a22bbdcb575115/6988a322e20a8777fda921a4/ap_340808773641.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2699 og:image:height: 1518 og:image:alt: Olympics: Japanese PM Abe during closing ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Shinzo Abe Dresses as Super Mario for Rio Closing Ceremony twitter:description: Japan's prime minister delights crowds as iconic Nintendo character twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a22bbdcb575115/6988a322e20a8777fda921a4/ap_340808773641.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Japan's Shinzo Abe Pops Up as Super Mario for Olympics Closing Ceremony > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=db1b2e4b-93d2-4c0a-8f30-f3522307e2a5&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Relive the Rio Olympics in These Amazing Photos [Watch (HLS stream): Relive the Rio Olympics in These Amazing Photos](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sa5wam9I.m3u8) (0:57)  _Published 2016-08-18. TIME selects the most amazing photographs from the Rio Olympic Summer Games._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 22, 2016 9:44 AM UTC by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 22, 2016 9:44 AM UTC Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe surprised watchers of the Olympics Games closing ceremony by donning a Super Mario costume to celebrate the official handover from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo. Abe made the whimsical entrance following a short clip which showed him transform into Mario to try to find the way to Rio. Joined by Pac-Man and anime figures, he jumps into his famous green pipe in Tokyo, and then falls down a tunnel through the earth to the Brazilian Maracana stadium. Abe then rose up from a pipe in the stadium dressed as the iconic Nintendo video game character, donning a suit and hat and holding a red ball, which he held high in the air. The bit was to commemorate the official handover to Tokyo, which will host the Olympic Games in 2020. > [](https://twitter.com/nippon%5Fen/status/767527479489671168) Social media immediately went wild, with viewers amazed at the sight of the typically stony-faced Prime Minister engaging in such light-hearted fun. > [](https://twitter.com/aBasithH/status/767532532732727297) > [](https://twitter.com/coverfer/status/767525650810806272) > [](https://twitter.com/patriciahizon/status/767527515619467264) > [](https://twitter.com/the%5Freal%5Fpalmer/status/767529975541030912) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/"},"headline":"Japan's Shinzo Abe Pops Up as Super Mario for Olympics Closing Ceremony","datePublished":"2016-08-22T09:44:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:43:51.689Z","description":"But no sign of Donkey Kong","url":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a22bbdcb575115/6988a322e20a8777fda921a4/ap_340808773641.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a22bbdcb575115/6988a322e20a8777fda921a4/ap_340808773641.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Olympics: Japanese PM Abe during closing ceremony","caption":"Olympics: Japanese PM Abe during closing ceremony","creditText":"Kyodo—Kyodo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/","name":"Japan's Shinzo Abe Pops Up as Super Mario for Olympics Closing Ceremony"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Relive the Rio Olympics in These Amazing Photos","description":"TIME selects the most amazing photographs from the Rio Olympic Summer Games.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sa5wam9I/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-18T18:19:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sa5wam9I.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4460923/super-mario-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```