Radio taiso is not one of the events selected for the Tokyo Olympics.

However, this gentle gymnastics is practiced by 27 million Japanese men and women, or 21% of the national population.

The practice consists of a series of thirteen very simple exercises to relax and stretch the arms, shoulders, legs and back.

The origin of the name comes from "Taiso", which means exercise, and from "radio" because the phenomenon started in the archipelago on the waves of public radio.

Radio taiso has been around for almost a century, when a national insurance company urged every Japanese woman to do easy daily exercise.

In 1928, NHK National Radio began broadcasting daily taiso at 6.30am.

Today, it is even practiced on Zoom.

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