By Hana Aldayyat
OCA Young Reporter from Jordan
Nagoya, Japan, September 27, 2026: On Friday, our group of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Young Reporters set out for a special visit to the Athletes Village: nine young journalists from across the continent representing Jordan, Tajikistan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Bhutan, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India.
While we spend most of our days covering fast-paced finals in busy sports halls, stepping into the village showed us a completely different side of the Games.
Instead of staying in traditional apartment towers, 4,000 athletes and team officials are living together on a giant cruise ship docked in Nagoya for 22 days. Turning the Costa Serena into a floating village where competitors cross paths every day along the decks and corridors.
On the playing field, these athletes carry the intense hopes of their home nations. But, during lunch inside the ship's massive dining hall on the ninth floor, all that pressure melted away.
As we walked through the hall, the energy was unmistakable. Tracksuits and national emblems from East Asia, the Gulf, Central Asia and South Asia moved past long buffet lines filled with food from every region. Yet the most memorable scene was not the food - it was what was happening at the tables.
At crowded tables, athletes who compete directly against each other were sitting side by side. A player from Central Asia passed food across to an athlete from the Gulf. When they could not understand each other's languages, they used hand gestures or typed into phone translation apps, breaking out into shared laughter moments later.
Everywhere you go in the city, posters display the Games official slogan: Imagine One Asia. Very often, slogans just feel like catchy words on a wall. But, watching 4,000 athletes and officials from completely different backgrounds share meals, stories and space on a single ship bought the slogan into real life.
Long after the medals are handed out and the final scores are recorded, this visit will stand out. In that dining room on the water, we saw firsthand that the true spirit of the Asian Games is not just about winning it is about bringing an entire continent together.