Major Japanese Newspaper Calls for Cancellation of Tokyo Olympics

A major Japanese newspaper has called for the Tokyo Olympic Games to be cancelled due to the worsening COVID-19 crisis in the country. 

An editorial printed in Wednesday’s edition of The Asahi Shimbun called on Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to calmly assess the current circumstances and cancel the Olympics.    The editorial criticized the leaders of the International Olympic Committee for being “self-righteous,” especially vice-president John Coates, who said last week the Tokyo Olympics would be held even if a state of emergency were in force.  The newspaper said Coates’s comments were out of step with the Japanese public. Public sentiment against staging the Olympics has been growing amid a surge of new infections that has overwhelmed hospitals across the country.  Tokyo and other regions in Japan are under a state of emergency that expires on May 31, but will likely be extended through June.