Growing skepticism among Japanese nationals and volunteers as Olympic Games approach

After a surge of coronavirus cases, Japanese officials and nationals alike have expressed their direct opposition of hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games this summer and have deemed it a “super-spreader.”

The founder of Tokyo based online retail giant Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, called the Olympics a “suicide mission.”

After the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed last summer for 2021, the host country still believes that the Games will be detrimental to their nation’s coronavirus recovery process.

With a current death toll of 13,000, compared to the United States' over 600,000, Japan was among the few countries that successfully warded off the virus during the peak of the pandemic, according to Statista.

Despite having lower infection rates than most countries, The New York Times reports that Japan has one of the slowest vaccine rollouts in the industrialized world, with only 2.4% of their population fully vaccinated.

According to The Telegraph, Tokyo and other prefectures are currently in a state of emergency until June 21st, with over 70,000 active cases.

The Olympics are now scheduled for late July through early August and will host more than 90,000 athletes, officials and journalists from over 200 countries, The Guardian reports.

Nikkei newspaper held a poll that revealed 62% of the public would prefer foreigners not enter the county; Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, polled public opposition to the Games at 83% and a petition to cancel the event has amassed over 400,000 digital signatures.

The Japan Broadcasting Organization has reported that 10,000 local volunteers have already quit, and the other 78,000 have the responsibility of preventing the spread of the coronavirus, both among participants and themselves.

“I do see the risk of a super-spreader event,” said Barbara G. Holthus, volunteer and deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo.

Toshiro Muto, chief executive of the Tokyo Olympics, said that none of the executive board members have explicitly mentioned a cancellation or postponement of the Games. He later added that as coronavirus cases decline, public opinion “will improve.”