Athletes from overseas are flowing into the country for the Tokyo Games starting in a week, while Japan's national teams have entered the final phase of preparations for competition.
Members of Nadeshiko Japan, the women's soccer team, arrived at New Chitose Airport on Thursday evening to prepare for their first game, set for Wednesday at Sapporo Dome just ahead of the Games' opening ceremony on July 23.
Nadeshiko, ranked 10th in the world, beat Australian in a Wednesday warmup game. The team will go through its final tweaks in Sapporo to be ready for its first-round matchup against Canada in one of many events to be held without spectators.
Meanwhile, in consideration of the fourth state of emergency issued in the capital, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee on Thursday called for spectators to refrain from visiting the Olympic cauldron set up near the Yume no Ohashi bridge in Tokyo's waterfront area.
The cauldron placed at the National Stadium will be lit first during the opening ceremony, but because the venue is not designed to house it on a permanent basis, the flame will be moved and used to light the cauldron in the waterfront area while the Games are ongoing.
The original plan was to have visitors to the waterfront area enjoy seeing the cauldron alight.
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