Japanese Olympic organizers, anxious to carry off the Olympics this summer, are reported to be planning an event that will have no foreign spectators, and possibly few or no Japanese spectators, according to reports in the Japanese newspaper Mainichi.
The games, reschedule from last year because of the Covid pandemic are scheduled to run from July 24 to August 8, followed a couple of weeks later by the Paralympics. Although vaccinations are becoming more widely available, many countries are only in early stages, and even many Olympic athletes are not yet eligible for vaccination in their home countries.
A source close to the government, which oversees the planning for the games, told Mainichi “Under current circumstances, we cannot accept spectators from overseas.” Those officials are also considering how many domestic spectators might be allowed, or whether any would be; protecting the athletes is one concern, and the possibility of a spread among spectators is another.
The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government have been pushing to have the games this year, and have said that if they are not held they will be canceled rather than postponed again.
