Asahi newspaper, official Tokyo Olympics partner, calls for Games to be cancelled
- The paper says the event can’t go on because of the strained health system and risks to public safety
- Its call comes days after the US advised Americans not to travel to Japan at a time it is set to extend a Covid-19 state of emergency in nine prefectures
“We ask Prime Minister [Yoshihide] Suga to calmly and objectively assess the situation and decide on the cancellation of the event this summer,” the newspaper said in an editorial.
“We are far from a situation in which everybody can be confident they will be ‘safe and secure’,” the paper added. “Sadly, that is not the reality.”
Much of Japan, including host city Tokyo, remains under a third state of emergency that is widely expected to be extended beyond this month.
Poll after poll has shown most the public is opposed to holding the Games this summer, concerned about tens of thousands of athletes and officials descending on a country that has mostly remained closed to foreigners since last year.
Doctors’ associations have protested holding the Games, investors have talked up the benefits of shelving them, and maverick businessmen such as billionaire Masayoshi Son have called for cancelling the games. In addition to the top executive from SoftBank Group Corp, Hiroshi Mikitani, billionaire founder and CEO of online retailer Rakuten Group Inc, compared the Games to a “suicide mission”.
By early morning on Wednesday, “Decision to cancel”, taken from the title of the Asahi’s editorial, had garnered more than 21,000 tweets.
“Finally, one of the top sponsors – the Asahi Shimbun – has written an editorial for Olympics cancellation,” tweeted @KaiserAndDragon.
