REUTERS
February 15, 2021 at 18:30 JST
In this March 20, 2020, file photo, three-time Olympic gold medalists Tadahiro Nomura, right, and Saori Yoshida light the torch during Olympic Flame Arrival Ceremony at Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Base in Higashimatsushima in Miyagi Prefecture. (AP Photo)
Over half of Japanese firms believe the Tokyo Olympic Games should be canceled or postponed, a survey by think tank Tokyo Shoko Research showed on Monday, casting further doubt over the fate of the troubled Games.
Japan is struggling to contain the coronavirus and lags behind western countries in rolling out vaccines, even as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed to get conditions in place to host the once-postponed Summer Olympics from July 23.
The survey, conducted online on Feb. 1-8, showed 56.0 percent of the companies polled feel Japan should cancel or postpone the Games, up from 53.6 percent in the previous survey in August.
Only 7.7 percent of the firms surveyed said the Games should proceed in full form as scheduled this year, down from 22.5 percent in the previous survey.
Nearly 20 percent said the Games should be held with a limited number of spectators, while another 17 percent said it should proceed with no spectators, the survey showed.
Over 70 percent firms said cancelling or postponing the Games will barely have any impact on their earnings.
The survey, which covered over 11,000 firms, was conducted before Friday’s resignation of Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori over sexist remarks that left the Olympics searching for a chief five months from the opening ceremony.
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II