According to political myth, there is a jinx that causes the prime minister to be replaced the year the Olympics are held in Japan. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was unable to break this pattern.
Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda announced his resignation on Oct. 25, 1964, the day after the closing of the Tokyo Olympics, the first Olympics to be held in Japan. Ikeda had accelerated the construction of the Shinkansen bullet train and expressways in preparation for the Olympics, but he had to be hospitalized for laryngeal cancer in September before the opening ceremony.
Eisaku Sato, who succeeded Ikeda as prime minister, ended his seven-year, eight-month administration in July 1972, five months after the Sapporo Olympics.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto welcomed the Nagano Olympics as the incumbent prime minister in February 1998, but was forced to resign after losses in the upper house election in July.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
