Olympics-Stranded Japanese honeymooners end up as Cape Verde's team ambassadors

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EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING

VIDEO SHOWS: PROMOTIONAL VIDEO MADE BY JAPANESE TOURISTS RIKIYA AND AYUMI KATAOKA FOR CAPE VERDE / INTERVIEW WITH JAPANESE TOURISTS ABOUT BEING STRANDED IN CAPE VERDE AND ABOUT THEIR LINKS TO THE CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE / CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE CHEF DU MISSION SPEAKING ABOUT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PAIR

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS:

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL')

1. VARIOUS OF PROMOTIONAL VIDEO MADE BY JAPANESE TOURISTS RIKIYA AND AYUMI KATAOKA FOR CAPE VERDE (MUTE)

2. RIKIYA KATAOKA WEARING SNORKEL AND INTRODUCING HIMSELF IN JAPANESE IN VIDEO

3. VARIOUS OF PROMOTIONAL VIDEO (MUTE)

SAL, CAPE VERDE (AUGUST 11, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STRANDED JAPANESE TOURIST AND AMBASSADOR FOR CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, RIKIYA KATAOKA, SAYING:

"So, I cannot move because (there are) some flights to African countries, where there are a lot of corona cases, but at that time Cape Verde didn't have coronavirus cases. So, we thought we have to stay here. It is safer compared with going to another country in Africa."

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL')

5. VARIOUS OF RIKIYA AND AYUMI KATAOKA EATING FOOD IN VIDEO REVIEWING RESTAURANT

SAL, CAPE VERDE (AUGUST 11, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STRANDED JAPANESE TOURIST AND AMBASSADOR FOR CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, RIKIYA KATAOKA, SAYING:

"I am a videographer so I wanted to get some jobs here. I shoot many things in restaurants and hotels, as a volunteer, then I post on Instagram and tag them. They then share my posts. After, so many people offered me a job. Of course, I do not have a business visa so I cannot get the money. But they can exchange something. For example, the restaurant owner offered me a job filming video inside and outside, and the food, then they gave me food for free."

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL')

7. VARIOUS OF RIKIYA AND AYUMI KATAOKA WALKING

SAL, CAPE VERDE (AUGUST 11, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) STRANDED JAPANESE TOURIST AND AMBASSADOR FOR CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, RIKIYA KATAOKA, SAYING:

"They want me to be ambassador of the Olympic team of the national Cape Verdean team. So, I think when I go back to Tokyo, I will do a job for them."

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL') (MUTE)

9. VARIOUS OF PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

SANTIAGO, CAPE VERDE (AUGUST 12, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHEF DU MISSION OF CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, LEONARDO CUNHA, SAYING:

"We felt the urge of giving back, that's it. So, the guys are Japanese citizens and they deserve, in the name of the friendship that we have with Japan, just to be well-treated."

11. WHITE FLASH

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHEF DU MISSION OF CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, LEONARDO CUNHA, SAYING:

"It is a friendship story that is going to be built up from Cape Verde. So this was our interest of accompanying them on their journey as well, and make them part of our adventure in Japan."

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL')

13. VARIOUS OF RIKIYA KATAOKA PLAYING SOCCER WITH LOCALS ON BEACH

SANTIAGO, CAPE VERDE (AUGUST 12, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHEF DU MISSION OF CAPE VERDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, LEONARDO CUNHA, SAYING:

"You go to another planet, you go to planet Olympics so when they will arrive there (in Tokyo) they will be in shock, because it is something so big and something so emotional they really will understand where our invitation comes from and what it will mean for them in the future."

SAL, CAPE VERDE (UNKNOWN DATE) (CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL - MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY 'CRAZY HONEYMOON YOUTUBE CHANNEL')

15. RIKIYA KATAOKA, WEARING CAPE VERDE SOCCER JERSEY, SAYING "CHEERS" IN JAPANESE TO CAMERA

STORY: Japanese couple Rikiya and Ayumi Kataoka had their honeymoon wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic, but their resourcefulness in enforced exile in Cape Verde has won them appointments as ambassadors for its Olympic team.

The Kataokas had completed a third of their round-the-world trip when a suspension in long-haul flights stranded them for five months in the archipelago of 10 tiny islands off the coast of West Africa.

Unable to resume their journey to Europe and then home to Japan and unwilling to head to the African mainland, where virus cases are spiking, they had to trade their skills with domestic businesses to earn funds in the absence of work visas.

But Cape Verde's Olympics officials were so intrigued by the ties the couple had built with locals that they decided to include the Kataokas in their team heading to the rearranged games in Tokyo next July.

"They want me to be an ambassador of the Olympic team," Rikiya, 30, told Reuters via Zoom, speaking from the island of Sal.

Cape Verde, who have never won an Olympic medal despite participating in every summer Games since 1996, hope to take three or four athletes to Tokyo.

Not only will the Kataokas be useful for their local knowledge but the islands' officials hope the recognition helps repay the couple for their work in promoting the islands, where their plight turned them into minor celebrities.

"We felt the urge of giving back," said Leonardo Cunha, the islands' chef de mission for Tokyo.

Miles from home with dwindling funds, the Kataokas could easily have panicked, but Rikiya, who occasionally works as a videographer back home, made social media videos, tagging hotels and restaurants, in exchange for lodging and food.

(Production: Jack Tarrant)