Photo/Illutration The Olympic rings symbol stands at the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium in Sapporo. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The scandal surrounding the Tokyo Olympics just keeps growing bigger and becoming uglier.

Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, was indicted on a bribery charge by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sept. 6.

On the same day, Takahashi was rearrested on suspicion of having Kadokawa Corp. deposit about 76 million yen ($540,500) in the account of a company headed by his acquaintance over the selection of the major publisher as a Games sponsor.

Prosecutors have also searched the offices of Daiko Advertising Inc., suspecting there were shady money transactions involving the Osaka-based major advertising agency.

A sense of deep disappointment is being felt throughout society over the exposure of the dark side of the quadrennial “festival of peace.”

The public was already regarding the Olympics with mistrust and suspicion as the Tokyo Games were effectively held by force despite the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

But those who have caught the Olympic fever, so to speak, have apparently lost their ability to assess the situation and to act accordingly.

For example, Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto, whose city plans to bid for the 2030 Winter Games, was planning to visit the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne in mid-September even after Takahashi was arrested on Aug. 17.

But Akimoto on Sept. 5 abruptly announced the cancellation of his trip. According to sources, IOC officials told the city that his visit would be ill-timed.

The scandal is being reported abroad, and the parties concerned are closely following the developments.

What on earth was Akimoto planning to discuss with IOC officials without looking into where the Tokyo Games organizers had erred in judgment and what should be done to prevent future scandals?

An unbridgeable gap lies between the public’s understanding of the situation and Sapporo’s stance that bidding for the 2030 Games is a forgone conclusion, just as the holding of the 2020 Games was for Tokyo.

We are also appalled that Yasuhiro Yamashita, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), intended to accompany Akimoto to Lausanne.

The JOC loaned staffers to the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee and Yamashita himself served as one of the committee’s vice presidents.

Should the charges against Takahashi prove valid, Yamashita bears grave responsibility as one who effectively allowed Takahashi to commit his wrongdoing.

If Yamashita had any awareness of this, he shouldn't have even entertained the notion of going to Lausanne with Akimoto.

In addition, we are utterly disappointed with Koji Murofushi, commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency, who makes pathetically trite comments.

“Every time I watch the news, I am pained. I feel something like regret or sorrow,” Murofushi told a news conference.

Including the JOC, any athletic organization needs funding to maintain itself and hold sports events.

Seeing to all that by securing sponsors, for example, are advertising agencies, such as Dentsu Inc., where Takahashi is originally from.

What lessons should be learned from the scandal and how can the current state of affairs, dubbed “Dentsu domination,” be changed?

The entire sports community must deal with this weighty task.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 7

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