Excerpt from the synopsis on the official NHK website "The war that Japan waged across Asia and the Pacific. The Olympics scheduled to be held in Tokyo in 1940 were canceled, becoming a phantom event. The athletes expected to shine disappeared from the public stage amid an era engulfed by war. In this program, we trace the paths of those athletes together with competitive swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, soccer player Makoto Hasebe, and track and field athlete Seiji Arahori. Among the athletes who went to the battlefield and never returned, it has also become clear that some were used as 'symbols' of war. It has also become apparent that there were people who sought to protect the spirit of sport itself against the state and the military, which tried to control sports and make them fully cooperate with the war effort. One such figure is Isaku Matsuzawa, who served as a swimming coach. This time, several hundred items of Matsuzawa's materials have also been discovered. Now, with 2020 approaching, the program sheds light on the reality of the war that stripped athletes of their dignity, while also examining the turbulent lives of the athletes who pursued the spirit of sport and of Matsuzawa."