I, like many people I suspect get a little more patriotic when the Olympic games occur.

Coming from Canada, where a lot of winter sports are part of many peoples’ lives the winter Olympics have always been more important for me than the summer games.

But, living outside one’s own country can be difficult in times like this. In the past, I was able to see some of the Olympics because I had access to the national broadcaster in Japan (NHK) in the apartment where we once lived. It wasn’t the best possible solution for me, a Canadian in Japan as the broadcast focused on Japanese nationals, which is perfectly logical considering this is Japan. I was grateful that I could see any coverage at all.

Now, here in Naruto we do not have access to the national broadcaster due to the outrageously high connect fees. Therefore we cannot see any Olympic broadcasts, Japanese or Canadian. Our internet provider is also our TV channel provider and though we have a variety of Sports channels, none of them show the Olympics. The Canadian national broadcaster (the CBC) provides coverage for Canadians living in Canada via TV and an internet application, but this does not work outside of Canada.

I will not be cheering my nations’ athletes this year due to the fact that I can’t. Oh, sure, if we paid a good chunk of money we could watch the coverage on TV. Alternatively, if I was a computer whiz, maybe I could hack my way into some cable feed of the Olympic coverage. Sadly, neither option seems likely for me.

Things change when you live outside of your home country. This, Olympic coverage, is one of them. Some things change for the better when you live in another country, some for the worse. Looking at the big picture of life, this concern of mine really isn’t all that important.

I wish all the athletes from all the attending nations all the best of luck at the Olympics. Maybe at the next Olympics, I’ll be able to watch and cheer you on.