Dutch athletes before departure for Tokyo
Image: EPA
Measures against the coronavirus are promoting discrimination in Japan’s capital, Tokyo, where guests are gradually arriving for the Summer Olympics, which is about to begin. That creates trouble.
Dhe Olympic Games are a symbol of international understanding. But in Japan’s capital Tokyo, where guests are gradually arriving for the summer games starting on July 23, the measures against the corona virus are demanding their price and promoting discrimination. A hotel in Tokyo now caused a stir because it clearly separated its elevators between Japanese and foreigners. “Only Japanese” and “Only foreigners” read the signs in front of the elevator doors.
When photos of it made the rounds on social media, there were protests and users criticized the signs as “racism”. On another sign in the hotel, the guests were informed that an elevator could also be used by foreigners. The foreigners were also asked not to use the elevator with the Japanese.
The hotel apologized when the review became loud. They only tried to implement the rules of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, it said. Afterwards, guests arriving from abroad for the Olympic Games must be separated from local guests in the flow of movement. The organizers want to ensure that the people entering the country remain largely under a bubble, even if they do not have to go through a 14-day quarantine. “We didn’t mean that as discrimination, but we would like to apologize,” a hotel spokesman was quoted as saying. The signs have been removed.
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