Japan Hosted Asia's Biggest Sporting Event for the First Time Since 1994

Keypoints:

• The 2026 Asian Games opened in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, on September 19
• Emperor Naruhito formally opened the games
• 10,787 athletes from 46 nations are competing across 469 events in 43 sports
• Father-son Olympic hammer-throw medalists Koji and Shigenobu Murofushi carried the final torch together
• It's the first Asian Games hosted in Japan since Hiroshima in 1994

The 2026 Asian Games opened in Nagoya on September 19, marking the first time Japan has hosted Asia's largest multi-sport event since Hiroshima did so in 1994. Emperor Naruhito formally declared the games open at Paloma Mizuho Stadium, with 10,787 athletes from 46 nations parading in for the opening ceremony under the motto "Imagine One Asia."

The torch-lighting carried its own layer of history. Father and son Shigenobu and Koji Murofushi, both Olympic hammer-throw medalists in their own right, carried the final torch together into the stadium, a rare multi-generational moment for a ceremony built almost entirely around individual athletic achievement. 

India's 501-member contingent marched in wearing ceremonial sarees and Nehru jacket Jodhpuri outfits, led by two-time Olympic medalist shooter Manu Bhaker and kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat, arriving with hopes of building on the country's record 106-medal haul from the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

The scale of the event itself is substantial. Athletes will compete across 469 events in 43 sports and 71 disciplines through October 4, including several sports debuting at the Asian Games for the first time, padel and teqball among them. A parallel Asian Para Games follows next month in the same host cities, continuing a tradition where the two events have run back-to-back in the same country since 2010.