Tokyo Olympics: World's media floods to Tokyo to cover Games unlike any other in history

It's not just the world's fittest and fastest arriving in Tokyo as the countdown to the Olympic Games continues.

Thousands of reporters, including New Zealand's own, will call the city home for the next three weeks.

And with these Games to be forever known as the COVID Olympics, the TV coverage may look a little different.

There's still well over a week until competition starts here in Tokyo and the world's media is just starting to show up.

From reporters to producers to camera operators, they'll all be filling out the desks of media row over the next couple of weeks.

But unlike London, Rio, or any other games, the rules for the press here are very different.

Expect to see masks on screen, interviews at a distance, and no high-fives or handshakes. 

And, for those here, some things take a little getting used to.

"Yes well, I've never been so PCR tested within an inch of my life, as I have here, with having to spit into a test tube you know! it's a really rigorous regime," says Associated Press' Ciaran McQuillan.

Television crews are only allowed in "approved" locations while they’re here, and hotspots like Harajuku or Shibuya - well, they’re off-limits for two weeks. 

"Normally we'd be hitting the streets, getting the sights and sounds of the atmosphere - there is none of that," says Nine's Christine Ahern.

But while the job for the media in Tokyo might be as hard as it's ever been, it's also more important than ever.

Tokyo's spectator ban won't impact the amount of eyes on the world’s most dramatic sporting event, only this time the eyeballs will be on the screen rather than in the stadiums. 

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