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Jonathan White

More than 30 per cent of Japanese residents want next year’s postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games to be cancelled, according to a poll by broadcaster NHK.
The news comes as Japan struggles once more with the coronavirus pandemic.
Faced with a record number of cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suspended a discounted domestic travel campaign on Monday, with rival lawmakers blaming the “Go To” programme for the rise in cases across the country since it was launched in October.
Officials this month announced a new set of guidelines for the country’s 510 host towns, with NHK reporting concerns at rising costs.
Is it realistic to press ahead with the Tokyo Olympics despite Covid-19?
Elsewhere, Games organisers on Wednesday announced the planned scaling back of public viewing for events in Tokyo.
Some 1,200 Japanese were polled by NHK over the weekend by telephone and asked whether they think the Games should go ahead next year. The results of the survey were released on Tuesday.
‘Hope and uncertainty’ over Covid-19 delayed Olympics: Tokyo Governor
“Twenty-seven per cent said the Games should be staged, 32 per cent said they should be cancelled, and 31 per cent said they should be postponed further,” NHK said.
NHK had conducted a similar poll in October, with 40 per cent of respondents saying that Tokyo 2020 should go ahead next year. Only 23 per cent said they should be cancelled, while 25 per cent opted for postponing them further.
“I will continue to spare no effort to bring about the Games that are safe and secure,” Suga said this month but the public appear unconvinced. The Games are set to start on July 23, 2021.


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Coronavirus pandemic

Tokyo 2020: majority of Japanese public want Olympics cancelled or postponed

Pedestrians wearing protective masks walk past Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games posters in Tokyo. Photo: EPA

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Two women take a selfie in front of the Olympic rings in the Odaiba section of Tokyo. Photo: AP

epa08557483 Pedestrians wearing protective masks are walking past event posters of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which was rescheduled to open on 23 July 2021 due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan, 15 July 2020. (issued 21 July 2020) Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics should have begun on 24 July 2020 but were postponed for one year. This is the first time that the Summer Olympic Games have been postponed rather than canceled. They are now due to be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021. As the pandemic is still spreading around the globe, uncertainty remains whether the Games can be held or not. Professional sports competitions like soccer and baseball have resumed without supporters' attendance to avoid transmission of the coronavirus but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach confirmed the Olympic Games will not happen behind closed doors. In June, Tokyo 2020 organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said th

An anti-terrorism drill is carried out at Miyagi stadium, a football venue of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, in Rifu, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Nov. 20, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Tokyo Olympics may allow foreign fans to attend, but there will be rules

Tokyo 2020 organisers have hinted that foreign spectators may be allowed in to watch the Olympic Games this year. Photo: Reuters

IOC handout photo of its president Thomas Bach who will visit Tokyo Games hosts Japan November 15-18

epaselect epa08807111 Liu Jieyu of China in action in the women's balance beam competition during the Gymnastics Friendship and Solidarity Competition in Tokyo, Japan, 08 November 2020. Gymnasts from Japan, China, Russia and the United States participated in an international gymnastics competition with taking measures against COVID-19 coronavirus. EPA-EFE/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

Spectators, wearing face masks amid the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, look on from the stands during a baseball match between Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Yakult Swallows at the Tokyo Dome on November 7, 2020. (Photo by STR / JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT

Olympics: Tokyo Games athletes to be exempted from coronavirus entry bans

The Tokyo Olympics logo is seen at the Tokyo metropolitan government headquarters building. Photo: AP Photo

Former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori (centre left) and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (centre right) pose with signed Japan and Taiwan athletes’ uniforms for the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP

Tokyo Olympics will go ahead ‘with or without Covid’, says IOC’s John Coates

The Olympic rings and the Japanese flag outside the Olympic Museum in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks in front of Tokyo 2020 sign Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Tokyo. The CEO of the Tokyo Olympics Toshiro Mut said Friday that having a vaccine is not a requirement for holding next year Olympics and Paralympics. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 12, 2018 shows Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori (R) answering questions as International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice president and chairman of the Coordination Commission for Tokyo 2020, John Coates (L), listens during their joint press conference in Tokyo. - Tokyo's postponed Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, IOC vice president John Coates told AFP on September 7, 2020, saying they would be the "Games that conquered Covid". (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Tokyo 2020 can’t go ahead ‘no matter what’ – Covid-19 needs to be beaten

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past a Tokyo 2020 event poster in the Japanese capital. Photo: EPA

A man wearing a mask against the spread of the new coronavirus walks in front of a countdown calendar showing 356 day to start Tokyo 2020 Olympics and 397 days for Paralympics Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Tokyo. The postponed Tokyo Olympics have again reached the one-year-to-go mark. But the celebration is small this time with more questions than answers about how the Olympics can happen in the middle of a pandemic. That was before COVID-19 postponed the Olympics and pushed back the opening to July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(FILES) This file photo taken on November 1, 2019 shows chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games coordination committee John Coates speaking at a joint press conference of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 organisation committee in Tokyo. - Tokyo's postponed Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, IOC vice president John Coates told AFP on September 7, 2020, saying they would be the "Games that conquered Covid". (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP)

A security personnel wearing a protective face mask is seen through the Olympic rings in front of Japan Olympics Museum, a day before the start of the one-year countdown to the Tokyo Olympics that have been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan July 22, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

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Some 32 per cent want next summer’s Games cancelled, with 31 per cent advocating further postponement as Japan battles Covid-19 surge
Support for Olympics taking place has dropped since broadcaster NHK did their last poll in October



Some 32 per cent think next summer’s Games should be cancelled, with 31 per cent advocating further postponement as Japan battles Covid-19 surge.


Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

IOC (International Olympic Committee)

Japan

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Tokyo 2020: majority of Japanese public want Olympics cancelled or postponed

Some 32 per cent want next summer’s Games cancelled, with 31 per cent advocating further postponement as Japan battles Covid-19 surge Support for Olympics taking place has dropped since broadcaster NHK did their last poll in October

Some 32 per cent want next summer’s Games cancelled, with 31 per cent advocating further postponement as Japan battles Covid-19 surge

Support for Olympics taking place has dropped since broadcaster NHK did their last poll in October