Japan 's citizens are calling for the Olympics to be canceled, with some protesting in Tokyo's streets.- The Games have become widely unpopular as Japan struggles with
COVID lockdowns and a slow vaccine rollout. - A new poll saw 83% of Japanese surveyed objecting to the Tokyo Games, up from 60% nine days ago.
As Japan grapples with a fresh wave of COVID lockdowns and a painstakingly slow vaccine rollout, there are growing calls from its citizens to cancel the
Support from the Japanese people for the Games is waning, as some 370,000 people and counting have signed a Change.org petition asking their government to cancel the Games.
In anger, some have even taken to Tokyo's streets, holding rallies, chanting slogans, and waving placards, asking for the government to "put people's lives ahead of the Games."
Most recently, an opinion poll published by Japanese
This was a marked increase in negative sentiment toward the Olympics within just nine days. Reuters reported on a poll published in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper on May 10, that said 60% of those surveyed wanted the Games to be called off.
Opposition to the Games is not just coming from Japan's citizens. Thousands of Japanese doctors banded together this week to urge the government to cancel or postpone the Olympics after a troubling surge in COVID cases.
In an open letter to prime minister Suga, 6,000 primary care physicians warned that were the games to go on as scheduled, medical institutions across the country will be overwhelmed. The letter was published on May 14, after it was reported that Japan would require 10,000 medical workers to be diverted to staff the Olympics even as cases spiked in Tokyo and Osaka - which sparked outrage, as the country's medical system remains overstretched just from dealing with the pandemic.
Surging cases, COVID lockdowns, and a sluggish vaccine rollout are kneecapping the Games
The Tokyo Olympics was originally billed as the "Recovery Games" - but the planning of the event has been plagued by difficulty. It was postponed once from its original dates in 2020, and the opening ceremony is now set to take place on July 23 this year, at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.
Though the Games are just ten weeks away, much of Japan remains under a state of emergency to combat a rise in COVID cases. As reported by the Japanese news outlet NHK World, the Japanese government expanded this state of emergency on Sunday to include three more prefectures - Hokkaido, Okayama, and Hiroshima - and now covers nine out of Japan's 47 prefectures. The state of emergency declared in April covered Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto, and was later extended to the Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures. It will remain in effect until May 31.
According to The New York Times, the country has in recent weeks logged as many as 6,000 COVID cases daily - up from 1,000 daily in March.
Also kneecapping Japan's Olympic plans is its painstakingly slow vaccine rollout. According to Reuters, only 3.7% of Japan's 126 million residents have been given their first vaccine shot, due to initial supply bottlenecks of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Despite new stocks of the vaccine making their way to Japan, a report from the Japan Times noted that tens of millions of COVID vaccines were sitting unused in freezers as local municipal governments struggle with the rollout.
The government's renewed efforts to step up the vaccine rollout in major cities was further impeded by a serious flaw in its COVID vaccine booking system which allowed people to make COVID vaccine reservations using completely false information - which could potentially deny a vaccination slot to people who are over 65 years of age.
Japanese Prime Minister Suga softened his stance on the Olympics last week amid a surge in new COVID cases, saying that he has "never put the Olympics first."
"My priority has been to protect the lives and health of the Japanese population. We must first prevent the spread of the virus," he said.