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

[Atticus]

Japan . . . has fully vaccinated less than 1% of its population

And far-flung China (>1.1B people) is over 13%. That seems so odd to me. The 'advantage' of a monolithic government?

[Conor Dary]

Canadian Olympian says doctors must make call on holding Tokyo Games


KYODO NEWS - 11 hours ago - 18:05 | Sports, News, All, Coronavirus

Six-time Canadian Olympian and International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission member Hayley Wickenheiser has called for medical experts to be the sole arbiters of whether the Tokyo Games go ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Friday.

"Prior to the pandemic I said there's no way the Olympics can go ahead because history told us there was no way they could. And now I'm saying I don't know, I wonder if they can again," Wickenheiser told CBC Sports.

"This decision needs to be made by medical and health experts, not by corporate and big business."

"It's very hard after what I've witnessed this past year (to) then think about the games. I've seen such suffering."

Wickenheiser said the IOC and athletes like herself, who would "go at any cost," were too invested in the games to make the decision.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...kyo-games.html

[18.99s]

And far-flung China (>1.1B people) is over 13%. That seems so odd to me. The 'advantage' of a monolithic government?

One important difference is that China made their own vaccine, while Japan didn't and therefore must wait for imported supply from other countries which have slowed their vaccine exports.

[Conor Dary]

Tokyo Olympics Say They Can Be Held Safely. Experts Say They Need Vaccines.

Games organizers point to other sports managing distanced, bubbled events during the pandemic, but none of them approaches the scale of the Olympics

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tokyo-o...ic-11619445969

[Conor Dary]

Japan's COVID-19 cases are surging with less than 90 days until the Tokyo Olympics

https://www.insider.com/japans-covid...lympics-2021-4

[Conor Dary]

The Olympics are set to begin in just 88 days on July 23, and the state of emergency could affect the setup for the games, even if the declaration ends before torchlight. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese government have expressed a commitment to ensuring the game commence this summer, one Japanese official, Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has said canceling the Olympics is an option.

"If rising coronavirus cases means 'this is impossible,' we would have to give up," Nikai told Kyodo News.

[Halfmiler2]

Behind the paywall, the Wall Street Journal has an article on its sports page about Japan preparing for the Olympics. No new news but a pretty good summary.

[Conor Dary]

Exorcist needed for Japan’s ‘cursed’ Olympics


Tokyo is charging ahead with the Games in stubborn defiance of common sense and prudence


https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/exorci...iEokd4zM4Adxj8

[Atticus]

Tokyo is charging ahead with the Games in stubborn defiance of common sense and prudence

Or . . . maybe . . . they are merely pragmatists who understand the reality of the situation and are trying to do what's best for all concerned, knowing that neither cancellation nor a normal Games is an option that won't bring a firestorm of criticism.

[xw]

Yes, they can't afford to lose so much money, it'd be equal to political suicide too. It's already too late for a definite cancellation.

https://jp.quora.com/%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA...89%B2%E3%82%92

Just view the highest upvoted answer here by Mr. Kurimoto to basically the same question: why did/do they decide to go ahead? Google translation of the original Japanese text is quite accurate.

[gm]

Texas has had 5x as many cases as Japan, and 5x as many deaths... with a population 1/5 or so of Japan.

[donley2]

Moderna may be approved in Japan on May 20th.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...on-may-20.html

[gh]

Moderna may be approved in Japan on May 20th.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2...on-may-20.html

what's their rush? 🙄

[Conor Dary]

British Medical Journal.

Reconsider this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic games

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n962

[Conor Dary]

“Holding Tokyo 2020 for domestic political and economic purposes — ignoring scientific and moral imperatives — is contradictory to Japan’s commitment to global health and human security.”