Tokyo Olympics ... [no foreign fans] [no fans period]

[Conor Dary]

I think the Japanese public are now just resigned to the inevitable and just hope that the Games don't turn into a pandemic disaster

Lots of luck....Britain is 46% fully vaccinated and a surge is still happening...

Right now it looks like the government have thrown away the advantages of getting vaccinated early by letting the Delta COVID variant get a hold in the UK. There is little doubt this was because the Prime Minister wanted a trade deal with India, and so put off putting them on the red list. Here is a graph of COVID cases in various countries, and the increase in the UK is because of the Delta variant.

[Conor Dary]

Catchy tune.

Right...here is another one..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vCUtm7mCF4I

[Conor Dary]

Meanwhile...

Japan mulls extending COVID-19 quasi-emergency in Tokyo area

Japan is considering extending its coronavirus quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo and three adjacent prefectures, government sources said Wednesday as a rebound in COVID-19 cases has raised the possibility of the capital hosting the Olympics without spectators.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government will make a decision next week on a possible extension beyond the emergency's expiration on July 11, just before the Summer Games open on July 23, the sources said. Some in the government speculate Suga may declare another state of emergency in the Tokyo area.

At a separate meeting Wednesday of a panel of the health ministry, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said the Delta coronavirus variant, first detected in India, accounted for an estimated 30 percent of infections in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures at the end of June.

The institute warned the figure could exceed 50 percent in mid-July.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...ovt-scale.html

[Atticus]

♫♫ It's too late! ... to turn back now ♫♫
♫♫ I believe I believe I believe the Games they will go on ♫♫

Catchy tune.

[Conor Dary]

Meanwhile....how to do stupid...Japan is already on edge...

Andrew Butchart’s Olympics in doubt after ‘fake Covid test’ comments

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...CcA2PFajaw_fiY

[Conor Dary]

Financial Times

What the Olympic Village reveals about Japan’s readiness


...the concerns refuse to abate: last week’s positive test for the Delta variant in an arriving member of the Ugandan team, and the decision to allow the rest of the team to travel to their host town in central Japan, is a very much sloppier look than the country wanted at this point.

In theory, the Tokyo 2020 village bubble will not, as at previous Olympics, host an effervescent festival of cosmopolitan co-mingling, but will instead, via stern rules, Perspex screens and artificially intelligent crowd-tracking software in the canteen, serve the now paramount purpose of putting this whole spectacle behind us without a medical catastrophe. The Games motto “united in emotion” looms in giant letters behind the village plaza, but fretful obedience rather than sporty bonhomie may be the unifying emotion the organisers are secretly longing for.

And perhaps necessarily so. Experts have repeatedly warned against holding these Games, using terms that leave the administration of Prime Minister Yoshi-hide Suga, the Tokyo organisers and the International Olympic Committee with the absolute burden of proving those warnings wrong.

[18.99s]

Like old song goes,

♫♫ It's too late! ... to turn back now ♫♫
♫♫ I believe I believe I believe the Games they will go on ♫♫

[Tuariki]

I think the Japanese public are now just resigned to the inevitable and just hope that the Games don't turn into a pandemic disaster

[TWalsh]

More evidence emerged that the Japanese public's opposition to next month's Tokyo Olympics is losing steam, according to a series of media polls published roughly one month before the opening ceremony.

A survey by broadcaster Fuji Television carried out June 19 to 20 found that only 30.5% of the Japanese people said the Olympics should be canceled, compared with 56.6% the previous month. About 35.3% said the competition should be held without spectators, while 33.1% said a limited number of people should be admitted to the venues.

A sense of inevitability over the games has set in since Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga gained the support of U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders earlier this month. He has been pushing ahead with planning for the global sports spectacle, already delayed by a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Teams have begun to arrive in Japan from overseas and the athletes' village was unveiled over the weekend.

[Conor Dary]

Tokyo Olympics just got an important no-confidence vote — from Japan’s emperor


Japanese Emperor Naruhito appears to be “concerned” that this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo could cause a rise in coronavirus infections, according to the head of the Imperial Household Agency.


“His majesty is very worried about the current infection situation of the covid-19 disease,” Yasuhiko Nishimura, grand steward of the agency, told a regular news conference on Thursday, the Kyodo News agency reported.

“I suppose that he is concerned that while there are voices of anxiety among the public, the event may lead to the expansion of infections,” Nishimura said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...emperor-japan/

[Conor Dary]

It is definitely more than just politics, which I have posted often about especially the Financial Times articles, if it wasn’t political they would probably already would have been canceled ..only 20% of the population is vaccinated...Britain now is having an uptick in cases... and they are way ahead of Japan in vaccination.

[Vault-emort]

Interestingly, vaccination status has zero to do with any of this. I can fully document my vaccination status, as I was fully vaccinated by the end of January. I have the hard copy print-out of my card, photocopies of it on my cell phone, and copies of my North Carolina Medical Board (or whatever it is) verification of my vaccination status on my phone. None of that matters in Japan.

Since 30% (I believe) of recent Covid deaths in the UK (Delta strain) have been those who have been 'fully (double) vaccinated', no-one should think they are bullet-proof.

Good health to you and others travelling.

[TWalsh]

Letter to the Financial Times...

Japan’s Olympic gamble is an unacceptable risk

After the second world war, the Japanese constitution was redrafted to say that we, the Japanese people, “have determined to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world”. As a creed, it sounds very nice. But as a system of national governance, it is a fairy tale, one that works in peacetime and fails in an emergency.

In the past, the US has protected Japan as its ally. Yet in Japan, many assume that it is the constitution, not the US, that has shielded the country. Covid-19 has laid bare the reality that neither the US nor the constitution can protect Japan in a global crisis. The government has had to fend for itself.

Now, after one year of delay, the government has chosen to go ahead with the Olympic Games, under big pressure from the International Olympic Committee, though over 70 per cent of Japanese people are against them going ahead (Report, June 19). With the failures of border control, the vaccination campaign, and not setting enough restrictions for lockdowns, the people have lost faith in the government response to Covid-19. As of June 10, only 5 per cent of the population of Japan had received two vaccine doses. Japan needs to implement a period of national isolation by placing strict control on its borders, not host a big Olympic Games. It is an unacceptable gamble. Unfortunately, it appears that the Japanese government is incapable of making the sensible call.

Toshisada Yamanaka

Chief Executive Officer, Gladstone Corp Tokyo, Japan

Some people don't know that there's an important election in Japan during the month of October. And there is a vicious campaigning going on, with the Olympics being used by opposing politicians to pile on a wave of negative publicity against the current Japanese government. Nothing would make them happier than getting the Olympics cancelled for good. They have used a sketchily worded poll that says 70 percent of the Japanese people are against having the Olympics. In the last week, another poll has the majority of people in favor of having the Olympics. So, regardless of your view on having or cancelling the Olympics, everyone should be aware of the political fighting that is going on, with the Olympics once again being used as a political pawn.

[Conor Dary]

Letter to the Financial Times...

Japan’s Olympic gamble is an unacceptable risk

After the second world war, the Japanese constitution was redrafted to say that we, the Japanese people, “have determined to preserve our security and existence, trusting in the justice and faith of the peace-loving peoples of the world”. As a creed, it sounds very nice. But as a system of national governance, it is a fairy tale, one that works in peacetime and fails in an emergency.

In the past, the US has protected Japan as its ally. Yet in Japan, many assume that it is the constitution, not the US, that has shielded the country. Covid-19 has laid bare the reality that neither the US nor the constitution can protect Japan in a global crisis. The government has had to fend for itself.

Now, after one year of delay, the government has chosen to go ahead with the Olympic Games, under big pressure from the International Olympic Committee, though over 70 per cent of Japanese people are against them going ahead (Report, June 19). With the failures of border control, the vaccination campaign, and not setting enough restrictions for lockdowns, the people have lost faith in the government response to Covid-19. As of June 10, only 5 per cent of the population of Japan had received two vaccine doses. Japan needs to implement a period of national isolation by placing strict control on its borders, not host a big Olympic Games. It is an unacceptable gamble. Unfortunately, it appears that the Japanese government is incapable of making the sensible call.

Toshisada Yamanaka

Chief Executive Officer, Gladstone Corp Tokyo, Japan

[Conor Dary]

A Month Before the Olympics, How Is Japan Faring With Covid?


By Lauren LeatherbyJune 23, 2021


With a month to go until the Tokyo Olympics and a state of emergency freshly lifted in most of the country, Japan is seeing relatively low coronavirus case counts after a surge last month. But the country’s low vaccination rate, especially compared with other rich countries, and variants on the rise there have prompted some public health experts in recent weeks to express concerns about the Games or call for them to be canceled.

As athletes and coaches from almost every country in the world prepare to descend on Japan, where tens of thousands of residents will work at or attend the Games, just 7 percent of the country’s residents are fully vaccinated, compared with around a quarter of the population or more in most other rich countries. About 18 percent have received at least one shot, ranking Japan’s vaccination rate among the lowest of its peers and leaving the population vulnerable at a time when the Delta variant is on the rise and predicted to become dominant.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-olympics.html