- Japan is set to host the Summer
Olympics in Tokyo this July and August. - The Japanese capital is under a state of emergency, as it logs new record high COVID-19 infections.
- Most Japanese want the games delayed or canceled, but the government shows no signs of backing down.
Japan is now racking up COVID-19 infections like never before. Less than 1% of the population has been vaccinated, new, more contagious variants have arrived on the scene, and people are tired after more than a year of extreme caution.
The situation is so dire that a state of emergency in Tokyo has been extended until the end of May to combat the spread of the virus.
Still, Japanese leaders maintain the games must go on.
"We are putting all our efforts into stemming the spread of infections," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said last week, asserting that despite concerns, Tokyo can still host a "safe and secure Olympics" this July and August.
Overwhelmingly, Japanese people vehemently disagree with that sentiment.
Most Japanese people want the Olympics canceled, or postponed again
Over 70% of the country thinks the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were originally scheduled for last year, should either be postponed yet again due to the pandemic, or canceled entirely, according to a recent Kyodo News poll.
An online petition to cancel the Olympics, which went live last Wednesday, has so far garnered more than 310,000 signatures.
"With the rise of COVID-19, we urge the IOC [International Olympic Committee], the Japanese Government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Organizing Committee to make the right decision and cancel the event as soon as possible," Utsunomiya Kenji, the Japanese lawyer who authored the petition, said in a news release.
"I do not understand the reason to hold the Olympics when our medical care system is already in a state of collapse," a Japanese nurse who signed the petition said.
'As much as I feel sorry for the athletes, there are others who I feel more sorry for'
"The IOC is being extremely irresponsible," another petitioner wrote. "As much as I feel sorry for the athletes, there are others who I feel more sorry for."
IOC President Thomas Bach is set to visit Japan in mid-May and meet with Prime Minister Suga then, but there is growing speculation his visit will be canceled, given the current pace of COVID-19 infections and vaccinations in Japan.
A state of emergency that had been in effect in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo since April 25 was extended until the end of May on Friday, and it is being broadened to include even more prefectures, as the disease spreads.
Many Japanese people are losing patience with the pandemic, and don't harbor hope the ongoing restrictions will do much to control viral spread, which is also being fueled by the country's recent Golden Week celebrations.
Bars can't serve alcohol under the emergency, and karaoke joints are closed too. Some frustrated Japanese citizens have taken to drinking in the streets, the Associated Press reported.
"Gold medals are being given priority over people's lives," activist Misako Ichimura said at a recent Olympic protest, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Ichimura has been a staunch anti-Olympic protester since Japan was awarded these games in 2013, back when most Japanese people were supportive of hosting them.
But Japan has now logged more coronavirus deaths in the first four months of 2021 than it did in all of 2020, and a snail's pace vaccination campaign in the country is souring public sentiment.
"I don't want to see the Olympics worsen the situation that Japan is currently in!" one petitioner wrote online.