Media partner has withdrawn support for the Tokyo Olympics, as the games are planned to begin in less than two months.
Gatekeepers News reports that one of the largest newspapers in Japan, Asahi Shimbun which is an official partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics called for the summer Games to be dropped in an editorial on Wednesday.
Asahi Shimbun mentioned risks to public safety and strains on the medical system from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We ask Prime Minister (Yoshihide) Suga to calmly and objectively assess the situation and decide on the cancellation of the event this summer,” the paper said.
“We are far from a situation in which everybody can be confident they will be ‘safe and secure,'” the paper added, invoking the government mantra about the Games. “Sadly, that is not the reality.”
Majority of the public also kicked against the Games over concerns about thousands of athletes and officials descending on a country that has mostly remained closed to foreigners since 2020 and where vaccinations have continued slowly.
Doctors’ associations have opposed holding the Olympics, investors have talked up the benefits of shelving them, and maverick businessmen have called for cancelling the games.
Most cities in Japan, including the host of the Games, Tokyo are under the third state of emergency that is widely expected to be extended beyond this month, as it struggled to control the fourth wave of infections.
Gatekeepers News on Monday reported that Japan will soon open two large vaccination centres in Tokyo and Osaka in a bid to advance its immunisation approach. Medically trained staff from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces will also support vaccinations in the two centres.
Meanwhile, the United States, on Monday, issued an advisory against travel to Japan. Japanese officials, however, said the development would not affect the Games.
Japan has vaccinated about 5% of its population as its total confirmed infections rose to 725,536 with 12,497 deaths as of the 26th of May, 2021.
