Half of Japanese predict Olympics will happen this year, poll shows (updated)

Nippon Television Holdings

07/06/2021 04:53

(Updates with JOC official's apparent suicide, PM Suga comments
on Olympics, city volunteers resigning)
    By Makiko Yamazaki and Antoni Slodkowski
    TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - Half of the Japanese public thinks
the Olympics will take place this summer, a survey by Yomiuri
daily newspaper showed on Monday, less than two months before
the Games' scheduled opening.
    For the Tokyo Olympics, already postponed a year due to the
coronavirus pandemic, public concerns remain over how Tokyo can
hold the global event and keep volunteers, athletes, officials
and the Japanese public safe from COVID-19.
    At parliament, opposition lawmakers on Monday grilled Prime
Minister Yoshihide Suga and cabinet ministers over going ahead
with the Games despite worries that holding such a big sporting
event could further spread coronavirus infections.
    Japan has been "cornered" into holding the Games despite
public opposition during the pandemic, one of Japan's sporting
heroes and a member of the local Olympic committee said earlier.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2NM211
    Top government officials repeatedly said that the government
would continue to work on coronavirus measures for a "safe and
secure" Games, and that a decision on domestic spectators would
be made this month. 
    "Taking infection control measures for athletes and Games
officials so athletes from the world can safely participate and
to protect our people's lives and health, I think that is the
premise of holding (the Olympics)," Suga told lawmakers. 
    In a Yomiuri survey conducted June 4-6, 50% of respondents
said the Games would happen this summer; 26% said they would
occur without spectators. That is higher than 48% of those
polled saying the event would be cancelled.
    But most of the respondents in the same poll said virus
measures for Olympics athletes and participants are not enough,
while public support for the Suga administration hit their
lowest level, at 37%.
    About 3,500 out of over 40,000 "city volunteers" recruited
by regional governments for the Olympics have pulled out, NHK
reported. That adds to 10,000 volunteers had already withdrawn,
according to the organisers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NK0H8
    On Monday morning, Tokyo police reported a deadly incident
on one of the city's subway lines, but did not comment further.
Private broadcaster Nippon Television identified the person who
died as a senior official at the Japanese Olympic Committee
(JOC).
    The JOC is gathering information on the incident, a
committee representative told Reuters.        

 (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, Antoni Slodkowski, Chang-Ran
Kim, Elaine Lies; writing by Ju-min Park; Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
 ((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))