The Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest newspaper with a daily readership of over 5 million people, today called for the Japanese government to cancel the summer Olympics, now scheduled to begin on July 23 of this year. Polls indicate anywhere from 60-80% of the population also think the Olympics should be cancelled, and demonstrations in Japan against the Olympics being held have become a daily occurrence.
The reason is the out-of-control COVID crisis in the country. Only 4.4% of the Japanese population has gotten even one dose of the Covid vaccine. There is a state of emergency in Tokyo and other cities, and foreign travel into Japan is currently strictly limited.
The current plan is for only domestic and no foreign spectators to be present at the Olympics, but even that means that about 90,000 foreigners (including about 15,000 Olympians and their staffs) are expected to travel to Japan. The government has assigned 300 hospitals, 200 doctors, and 500 nurses exclusively to Olympics duty.
