Yes Tokyo Olympics are still on, despite opposition, pandemic japantoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TOKYO (AP) Will the postponed Tokyo Olympics open despite rising opposition and the pandemic? The answer is almost certainly “yes.” Senior International Olympic Committee member Richard Pound was emphatic in an interview with a British newspaper. “Barring Armageddon that we can’t see or anticipate, these things are a go,” Pound told the Evening Standard. […]
So the Olympics are barreling ahead. But why?
Start with billions of dollars at stake, a contract that overwhelmingly favors the IOC, and a decision by the Japanese government to stay the course, which might help Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga keep his job.
These factors have overridden scathing criticism from medical bodies that fear the Olympics may spread COVID-19 variants, and a call for cancellation from Asahi Shimbun, a games’ sponsor and the country’s second-largest selling newspaper. The United States Department of State has issued a Level-4 “Do not travel” warning for Japan with Tokyo and other areas under a state of emergency that expires on June 20.