Holding some Olympic competitions scheduled at night without spectators, as a measure against the novel coronavirus, is being considered by the central government. This comes as some heads of local governments hosting the venues for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games have expressed concerns about spectators being out at night amid the pandemic.
For the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the challenge is to determine which specific sports and venues should be closed to spectators.
--No 'special treatment'
"Wouldn't it be a good idea if our thinking revolved around having no spectators?" Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said at a press conference on Friday.
Besides Tokyo, the prefectures of Chiba, Hokkaido, Kanagawa and Saitama are among the places under the ongoing emergency-level priority measures that are hosting competitions scheduled to end after 9 p.m.
The governors objected to allowing spectators to attend Olympic competitions scheduled at night, saying it would be inconsistent with the measures, because they have asked residents and businesses to refrain from activities such as holding events after 9 p.m., while also requesting limits to the serving of alcoholic beverages.
Chiba Gov. Toshihito Kumagai stated on June 22 on social media, "We will not give special treatment to the Olympics."
Saitama Gov. Motohiro Ono also expressed concern about the situation whereby excited spectators might stay around the venues instead of going home.
--Starting times
On the other hand, municipalities that are not subject to the priority measures are positive about having spectators.
The city of Kashima in Ibaraki Prefecture will host soccer games scheduled to end at 10 p.m. Mayor Koichi Nishikiori told The Yomiuri Shimbun on June 30: "Matches [for the J-League] are being held [with spectators at night]. I can't understand why we would have no spectators after 9 p.m."
The central government is expected to make a decision on July 8 on whether and where to extend the priority measures.
After this decision, the Tokyo Games organizing committee is expected to decide on capacity and not allowing spectators for certain competitions as early as the same day, in consultation with the International Olympic Committee and other members of their five-party talks. It will likely be difficult to make specific adjustments such as for time of day and venue, however.
The talking points will be whether to allow no spectators based on the time a competition starts and whether to allow a maximum of 10,000 spectators into venues in areas not under the priority measures.
"Unless we go so far as to test all spectators for antigens, we will not be able to gain the approval of the people of the prefecture," Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa said at a press conference on July 1, calling for the starting times to be moved up.
A senior official of the organizing committee was not pleased, however, saying that if starting times are moved up, "we have to redo the management plan, starting with arranging buses and staff for transportation."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
.png?w=600)
