Tokyo News: Small minority support the Olympics being held this year

Tokyo News: Small minority support the Olympics being held this year

Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

An important NHK opinion poll for the profligate 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in 2021 highlights little support. Indeed, given the increasing coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in Tokyo and throughout Japan, it isn’t surprising that only the political elites and rich businesspeople are fully supportive.

According to the latest opinion poll by NHK, only 16 percent support the Olympics to be held this year. This is shockingly low for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and the Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to keep on plugging. After all, deaths are increasing in Japan alongside a recent upsurge in new daily infections.

Of course, Suga and Koike are adamant that the games will go ahead this year. However, with hospital strains in Tokyo and in other parts of the country because of the coronavirus crisis, it merely highlights the Olympic ideal that is based “on big business and cronyism.”

In a recent article by Modern Tokyo Times, it was stated, “The postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games look set to become the most expensive in the history of the Olympics. Yet, the ultra-modern city of Tokyo doesn’t need the games to develop its infrastructure. Therefore, the planned final costs are horrendous.”

In total, 77 percent of respondents want the Olympics to be either canceled or postponed. Thus, unlike Suga and Koike – and businesspeople focused on huge capital returns – the view from the street is to focus on the coronavirus crisis.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210113_01/

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