Tokyo Olympics: Country Order for Olympic Opening Ceremony

With the Tokyo Olympics finally underway, what is the country order for Olympic Opening ceremony to be held on Friday?

The wait is finally over, as the Tokyo Olympics are finally underway.

All of the opening ceremony festivities were supposed to already be a thing of the past, as the Tokyo Olympics were scheduled to take place last year. Due to the global pandemic, the Olympics were postponed until this summer and it feels as though the wait was worth it.

Country Order for Olympic Opening Ceremony

If it seems like countries are walking out in a strange or unconventional order, there’s a good reason for it.

This year’s Country Order for Olympic Opening Ceremony festivities will go according to the Japanese alphabet. So while the order may seem strange to countries around the world expecting alphabetic order to go according to what they follow, there will instead need to be some conversation of the Japanese alphabet to decipher when your country will be making its storied walk around the Olympic Stadium.

Here’s the complete country order for Olympics Opening Ceremony:

Greece
Refugee Olympic Team
Iceland
Ireland
Azerbaijan
Afghanistan
United Arab Emirates
Algeria
Argentina
Aruba
Albania
Armenia
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Andorra
Yemen
Israel
Italy
Iraq
Islamic Republic of Iran
India
Indonesia
Uganda
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
Uruguay
Great Britain
Virgin Islands, British
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Eswatini (Swaziland)
Ethiopia
Eritrea
El Salvador
Australia
Austria
Oman
Netherlands
Ghana
Cape Verde
Guyana
Kazakhstan
Qatar
Canada
Gabon
Cameroon
Gambia
Cambodia
North Macedonia
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Cyprus
Cuba
Kiribati
Kyrgyzstan
Guatemala
Guam
Kuwait
Cook Islands
Grenada
Croatia
Cayman Islands
Kenya
Côte d’Ivoire
Costa Rica
Kosovo
Comoros
Colombia
Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Saudi Arabia
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe
Zambia
San Marino
ROC (Russian Olympic Committee)
Sierra Leone
Djibouti
Jamaica
Georgia
Syrian Arab Republic
Singapore
Zimbabwe
Switzerland
Sweden
Sudan
Spain
Suriname
Sri Lanka
Slovakia
Slovenia
Seychelles
Equatorial Guinea
Senegal
Serbia
Saint Kitts and Nevis
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Lucia
Somalia
Solomon Islands
Thailand
Republic of Korea
Chinese Taipei
Tajikistan
United Republic of Tanzania
Czech Republic
Chad
Central African Republic
People’s Republic of China
Tunisia
Chile
Tuvalu
Denmark
Germany
Togo
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkmenistan
Turkey
Tonga
Nigeria
Nauru
Namibia
Nicaragua
Niger
New Zealand
Nepal
Norway
Bahrain
Haiti
Pakistan
Panama
Vanuatu
Bahamas
Papua New Guinea
Bermuda
Palau
Paraguay
Barbados
Palestine
Hungary
Bangladesh
Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
Fiji
Philippines
Finland
Bhutan
Puerto Rico
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Brunei Darussalam
Burundi
American Samoa
Virgin Islands, US
Vietnam
Benin
Venezuela
Belarus
Belize
Peru
Belgium
Poland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Bolivia
Portugal
Hong Kong, China
Honduras
Marshall Islands
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Malta
Malaysia
Federated States of Micronesia
South Africa
South Sudan
Myanmar
Mexico
Mauritius
Mauritania
Mozambique
Monaco
Maldives
Republic of Moldova
Morocco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Jordan
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos)
Latvia
Lithuania
Libya
Liechtenstein
Liberia
Romania
Luxembourg
Rwanda
Lesotho
Lebanon
United States of America
France
Japan

If you’re wondering when Team USA will make its walk, it will occur toward the end of the Opening Ceremony flag walk. While the Japanese alphabet differs from the English-language version, the order of countries is also structured around former host countries.

Japanese alphabet in English

There’s no one-to-one translation of each English-langue letter in the Japanese alphabet.