The Tokyo Olympics, about six weeks away, are proceeding despite opposition from the Japanese government. They could still be canceled, but it would be messy.
The intensity of the standoff between International Olympic Committee officials and the Japanese public over whether this summer’s Tokyo Games should go on as planned was clear recently when IOC member Dick Pound told a magazine that the event would take place even if Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga asked that it be canceled.
“Mr. Pound’s remarks are simply crazy,” former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama shot back on Twitter. “He should quit mocking the 80% of Japanese that don’t want the Olympics to go ahead.” The sharp exchange raises a question: Who gets to decide whether this giant and complex global event will proceed despite a wall of pandemic-related obstacles?
The IOC and the Tokyo organizing committee insist that the Olympics are a go. In response to recent questions from The Wall Street Journal, the IOC says it has entered into the “operational delivery” phase of the Olympics and that “it has become clearer than ever that these Games will be safe for everyone participating and the Japanese people.”
However, the Japanese government could move to cancel or postpone the Games if public pressure to do so remains high. Japan itself isn’t a party to the original host-city agreement that underpins the Games, and the country could pull legislative or immigration levers to block the event. Doing so could ignite a court battle that would be damaging to the image of the IOC and the Olympics.
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