NAGANO — A warm welcome awaits from the land of the rising sun. Downtown Nagano, Japan-- along the main drag where Olympic rings and colors-- calls us all to start of the winter games.

But just a few hundred paces off the main drag, in the neighborhoods of Nagano, you'd be hard pressed to tell anything special was going on.

Even with the snow on the ground, the work around the house doesn't stop. A shy woman living in the shadows of the main arena simply goes about her daily routine of hanging clothes on the line.

The neighborhood grocery-- people still stop to buy fresh vegetables, load them in their carts and make long walks on narrow streets home. The neighborhood barber shop-- a young man is in for a trim. The talk is more about blue skies than gold medals.

A middle-aged man on his way home after work-- taking the side streets on the favorite mode of transportation here, bicycles-- making the turn from the street where life goes on unchanged to one that's changed to welcome the world.