Photo/Illutration Tamayo Marukawa, the state minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympics, responds to a question from Renho, an Upper House member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, at the Upper House Budget Committee session on May 10. (Koichi Ueda)

Foreign media coming to cover the Tokyo Olympics this summer will be on a short leash with no chance to wander outside the "bubble" without permission, according to the state minister in charge of the Games.

At the Upper House Budget Committee session on May 10, Tamayo Marukawa categorically denied the possibility of foreign reporters wandering outside designated secure areas without restrictions in relation to measures to prevent novel coronavirus infections from spreading. 

She was responding to a question posed by Renho, an Upper House member of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, who asked Marukawa about the central government’s plan to manage activities and behavior of foreign media covering the Olympics.

Marukawa replied, “We will never let (them) hang around unsupervised in undesignated areas.”

Renho also pressed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, asking, “Are you on the same page with (Marukawa)?”

Suga said, “We will make sure that that never happens.”

Thousands of members of the media are expected to enter Japan to cover the Games. 

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