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Japanese Prime Minister Cosplays as Mario at the Olympics

While the Olympic Closing Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro did not feature an appearance of Pokémon GO as previously rumored, it did feature Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing the costume of iconic Nintendo character Mario.

The cameo began with footage showing Abe in Tokyo, worrying about not getting to Rio on time. He transforms into Mario, who gets into a pipe provided by Doraemon that drills through the earth to Brazil. Emerging from a pipe in the real world was Prime Minister Abe himself, with Mario's characteristic costume. Other iconic characters from Japanese pop culture franchises, such as Captain Tsubasa, Pac-Man, Doraemon, and Hello Kitty, also made appearances in the video for the traditional Summer Olympics handover.

The handoff ended with a Tokyo Skytree tower replica rising out of Mario's pipe as the game's level-clear tune played.

Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.