Japanese Pride vs Reality

“Why are we risking our loved ones for this?...Why did we not say no?”

Japanese resident of the Olympic Games scheduled for late July

There has been a travel warning from the U.S. Department of State against Americans visiting Japan, by reason of yet another local surge of COVID-19. Japan’s horrifically bureaucratic approval process has left this wealthy and developed nation virtually unvaccinated. Vaccine trials continue in Japan even as most of the rest of the world has at least overcome that threshold. 

If fans are permitted at all, even Olympic officials in Japan are attempting to limit attendees to the various competitions to those who already are in Japan. Most Japanese, already fearful of further surges of the pandemic, are dead set against the entire event, which to them represents both a colossal waste of government money and a profoundly dangerous risk both as to athletes and others perhaps introducing new strains of the virus, but, more importantly, providing heavy contact among the athletes and potentially crowded venues where no level of precaution can sufficiently mitigate the transmission of the disease.

Japan, with vast crowded cities – particularly greater Tokyo area with over 30 million people (out of about 130 million total population) – are tempting hotspots where pandemic risks are high. To put it mildly, holding the Olympics – an international gathering and celebration – in the summer of 2021 in a country with virtually no one vaccinated as the virus surges again is absurd, a foreseeable disaster without justification. The devastating economic consequences alone are already ascertainable. The vast majority of Japanese agree. They would like to see the event cancelled or postponed. But stubbornly, the Japanese government and the Olympic bureaucracy refuse to pull the plug. The show, they say, must go on… largely as a televised event, perhaps with local fans in defined and limited attendance.

To so many Japanese, already financially strained by the ravages of an uncontained pandemic, “forging ahead with the Tokyo Olympics is an unreasonable risk that will leave the Japanese public shouldering the regret and consequences after the athletes and the world’s spotlight have come and gone… More than 80% of Japanese residents said in recent polls that they want the Games canceled or again postponed.

“Doctors’ and nurses’ groups say hospitals could not handle another increase in COVID-19 cases or the threat of virus variants coming in from around the world. Japan’s richest man, a beloved tennis star and a top politician have all questioned the wisdom of hosting the Games in the throes of a pandemic. And dozens of towns have scrapped plans to host training camps or other Olympic-related events out of coronavirus concerns.

“It is a troubling backdrop for an Olympics that was supposed to signal Japan’s recovery from a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Games, which were postponed last year, also have been held up as the world’s triumph over the virus. But many in Japan — where just over 2% of the population is fully vaccinated, and infection and death rates are still high — see the prospect of opening the country’s doors to the planet’s largest sporting event as premature, if not dangerously misguided.” Los Angeles Times, May 26th.

Construction of additional competition venues continued throughout the pandemic as Japan prepared, hopefully, but the Japanese arrogant approach to the vaccine combined with the reality of a fourth wave made a bad situation virtually untenable. The event was already postponed from 2020. Gone are the massive tourist dollars to be spent on hotels, restaurants, souvenir purchases and general tourism which could have offset the massive construction costs and the very necessary governmental subsidies. Instead, Japan remains a country that continues to experience lockdowns and the other profound impacts of attempts to contain a disease that remains very much out of control locally and in much of the rest of the world.

Stubbornness persists: “The number of athletes, support staff and others entering the country has been scaled back to about 78,000, compared with the 180,000 expected before the pandemic. Visitors will be tested daily for three days after arrival, and their movements will be restricted, said Seiko Hashimoto, president of Japan’s Olympic organizing committee. About 60% of the athletes have already been vaccinated, and more than 80% are expected to have been vaccinated before the Games begin.

“No overseas spectators will be allowed, though officials have yet to announce whether locals will be permitted to attend… International Olympic Committee Vice President John Coates said last week that the Games would ‘absolutely’ go forward, even if Tokyo remains in a state of emergency at the time of the opening ceremony July 23.” LA Times. Pfizer-BionTech is donating vaccines, but the horribles loom. Local newspapers and telecasters continue to escalate editorials in favor of cancellation or another postponement. Medical professionals continue to issue warnings. Nothing seems to be able to stop government and Olympic officials hell-bent on continuing.

Will US athletes attend? Is our level of vaccination sufficient to attenuate the risk for our competitors? What about those athletes who have not been vaccinated? Is the risk to them worth it? To the locals who, despite precautions, are likely to have sufficient contact with incoming staff and athletes to exacerbate any potential risk to themselves and their families? 

I’m Peter Dekom, and the one thing that this pandemic has taught us all is how bad governmental reactions and policies to this pandemic have helped this disease achieve highly preventable levels of infection and death.