A man wearing a face mask stands behind the Olympic symbols of the five interwoven rings, presented near the national stadium in Tokyo.
James Matsumoto, SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images
A senior Japanese ruling party official said the cancellation of this year’s Tokyo Olympics remains an option if the coronavirus crisis gets too severe, as a fourth wave of infections grows less than 100 days after the planned start of the Games.
“If it seems impossible to do so again, then we must stop decisively,” Liberal Democratic Party general secretary Toshihiro Nikai said in comments to TBS.
Cancellation is “of course” an option, Nikai said. “If the Olympics spread the infection, then what are the Olympics for?” he added.
A key supporter of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the hard-line Nikai party, is known for his sincere comments, which appear as many other ruling party MPs have avoided discussing the issue of a possible annulment.
The largest sporting event in the world has already been postponed by a year and takes place without international spectators.
Japan is facing an increase in coronavirus infections, with numbers rising in Tokyo after the government put an end to the state of emergency and Osaka is suffering a record number of cases.
The government is continuing preparations that incorporate social distancing measures and other restrictions for the Games, which will begin on July 23, with a reduced torch relay in progress.
“We will organize (the Games) in a way that is feasible,” Taro Kono, a popular minister in charge of vaccinating Japan, said in a separate TV program, according to Kyodo News. “This can be without spectators,” he added.
A little support
Polls indicate little support in Japan for organizing the Games during a global pandemic. “Cancellation of the Olympic Games” was trending on Twitter in Japan on Thursday, with over 35,000 tweets from users.
“If this person says so, the cancellation of the Olympic Games seems to be a reality,” @marumaru_clm wrote on Twitter, referring to Nikai.
The Olympic organizers, Japan’s National Olympic Committee and the Tokyo government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Parliamentarians’ comments come as health experts sound the alarm over the spread of the infection and strain it on the medical system.
Japan’s top medical adviser, Shigeru Omi, has acknowledged that the pandemic has entered a fourth wave of mutant strains, and Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura has called for a postponement of the Olympics in a magazine comment.
Akira Koike, an opposition MP from the Japanese Communist Party, reacted to Nikai’s comments on Twitter, saying the event was already “impossible” and a decision on the cancellation should be taken “quickly”.
The cancellation or postponement of the Games is unlikely to hurt Japan’s economy very much, but it would have a greater effect on Tokyo’s services sector, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Wednesday.