The Japanese newspaper “Asahi Shimbun”, an official Olympic partner in Tokyo, has called for the summer games (July 23 to August 8) to be canceled. In an editorial, the newspaper described the major event in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday as a “threat to health”.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is therefore asked to “make a calm, objective assessment of the situation and make the decision to cancel the Olympic Games this summer.” The risk is not to be accepted, the leadership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) behaves “self-righteously” and disregards the will of the population.
It is the first of the largest Japanese newspapers to take this step. Asahi Shimbun has a morning circulation of 5.16 million and 1.55 million for its evening edition. It is the second largest newspaper in Japan after “Yomiuri Shimbun”.
IOC wants to stick to plans
In Japan, the critical voices are getting louder less than two months before the start of the Olympics, and surveys show a majority strongly negative attitude. In Tokyo and other parts of the country, a state of emergency has been declared due to the increasing number of corona cases. Since Monday, a travel warning of the highest level for Japan has been in effect in the USA with reference to the exacerbated pandemic situation.
Despite protests, there is no evidence that the International Olympic Committee or local organizers have any plans to cancel the Games.
A research institute said Tuesday that canceling the Games would cost Japan around $ 16.6 billion. The country could therefore suffer even greater economic damage if the implementation of the games leads to a sharp increase in the number of infections and a renewed emergency.
