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LIVE: Latest Call to Cancel Olympics Is by Influential Japan Newspaper | Top News
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May 27, 2021
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11:54:56Now Playing(May 26) One of Japan’s most influential newspapers, itself an official sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics, called for the event to be canceled in an editorial Wednesday, the latest blow to the organizers’ ambitions.
Canceling the Olympics would cost the economy 1.81 trillion yen ($16.6 billion), mainly in lost consumption, economist Takahide Kiuchi at Nomura Research Institute Ltd. said in a note on Tuesday. That’s in addition to consumption and tourism revenues already lost amid pandemic restrictions.
The Asahi newspaper, the second-most widely circulated newspaper in Japan and one known for its left-leaning views, urged Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to call off the world’s biggest sporting event, which is scheduled to start July 23.
“We can’t see how it makes sense to hold the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo this summer,” the paper said. “What is most important is the lives of the citizens.”
With no chance of framing the Games as proof that the world has defeated the virus, the paper said the government and organizers had failed to explain why the Olympics should be held at a time of such extreme difficulty. Virus variants could spread in Japan and around the world, it said, adding it would be unforgivable to gamble on the possibility that the event could go well.
The editorial is the latest blow to the Summer Olympics, which has drawn intense scrutiny as the opening ceremony draws closer. Many parts of Japan remain under a state of emergency due to recent increases in the spread of the virus.
The percentage of people vaccinated in the country remains low and the pace is far from a million shots a day -- a target set by Suga. On Tuesday, the U.S. issued a travel advisory urging its residents not to travel to Japan, though the warning hasn’t affected the plans of the U.S. Olympic team.
The Asahi newspaper is a domestic sponsor of the Olympics, as are many of Japan’s biggest companies, including three other major newspapers.
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