Naotoshi Yamada, who attended every Summer Olympic Games since 1964 when Tokyo hosted the sporting event for the first time, died of heart failure earlier this month. He was 92.

Nicknamed "Olympics Ojisan" (Olympics grandad), Yamada was known for his fancy outfits that included a golden top hat and a fan with a Japanese flag design.

He died on March 9 at a hospital in Tokyo, , an official of his company said Monday. Until recently, Yamada had told his family that he was looking forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as "the culmination of his life," when the games return to the Japanese capital next year.

A native of Toyama Prefecture, central Japan, Yamada even attended the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, despite Japan boycotting the event.

The chairman of Naniwa Syouji group, which operates a rope processing business and hotels in Tokyo, Yamada considered forgoing travel to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 out of concerns for local security conditions but visited the city in the end to cheer for the Japanese women wrestlers and other athletes.

(Athens Olympics, 2004)

(London Olympics, 2012)