Intimidated – probably – by the concept of exposing hours not yet vaccinated to horrors one of the worst medical epidemics to hit international sports since Bob Costas’s uber-gnarly pink eyes, the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics (still in defiance of the the powerful powers of the Great Calendar, being called the 2020 Summer Games”) They announced that they will not allow international spectators to participate in the event. The decision, announced this morning before July 23 launch of GIn addition, it is expected to cost literally billions of dollars in international tourism and tourism revenues, plus refunds for the 600,000 tickets already sold to participants from abroad.
Olympic Games – based, as they are, on blocking thousands of people in nearby areas so they can scream at each other while watching other people breathe extremely hard – they have always been, say, troubled as a prospect for COVID-era entertainment. The slow launch of vaccinations in Japan has not helped these prospects either Deadline notes that a recent survey in Japan was largely against the organization of the games this year. (It’s hard to blame them; if we lived on an already densely populated island, the idea of inviting unspeakable hordesf and all those bodies microscopic passengers, killers, going out and spitting on things would probably be daunting.)
The decision to ban international travelers was taken together with the organizers of the Games, the International Olympic Committee and The International Paralympic Committee, as well as with the local government and the Japanese government as a whole. (The Paralympic Games begin in August and will face similar restrictions.)