VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Tokyo Olympics is going to be held on July 23, 2021. This world sporting event has been postponed for a year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Currently, it is still a question for many parties how Tokyo will hold the world event and make Japanese volunteers, athletes, officials and people safe from the Covid-19. Due to the fact that up to now, Japan is still in great efforts to control the number of Covid-19. It is reported that 10 prefectures in Japan, including Tokyo, are still under a state of emergency until June 20, 2021. On Tuesday (1/6), Japan started vaccinating its athletes who will take part in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The Japanese government in its latest data mentions only about 3 percent of the 128 million populations who have received vaccinations. There have been 74,000 cases of Covid-19 with a death toll of up to 13,000 people.

The Japanese newspaper -Yomiuri conducted a survey on June 4 – June 6, 2021 which revealed that 50 percent of respondents said the Olympics would be held this summer. About 26 percent of respondents said the Tokyo Olympics would not be possible without spectators. More than 48 percent of respondents said the sporting event would eventually be cancelled.

The survey also revealed that respondents' support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had declined to the lowest level of 37 percent. Most of the respondents said the reason was because they were tired of the bans imposed to stop the corona virus outbreak and the policies they felt were not enough to protect Olympic athletes and participants.

Since the beginning of the year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been encouraging athletes and Olympic committee teams from various countries to be vaccinated before they arrive in Japan.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made this event difficult to carry out. However, with the various efforts that have been made and the delay of a year, Japan seems determined to keep holding the Olympics amid this pandemic. After preparations that cost a lot of time, money, and energy, it seems that Japan really has no choice but to continue to hold the Olympics. Of course, there are various adjustments to health procedures to anticipate the Covid-19.