Possible cancellation of Tokyo Olympic Games, Japan

Tokyo has been preparing to host summer Olympics 2020 for several years, building new infrastructures if needed. Regarding the geographic distribution of the venues, Chris Rowthorn, guide for Tokyo and long-time Japan resident wrote "Most of the Tokyo Summer Olympic events will beheld in Tokyo itself. The venues are divided into two zones: Heritage Zone and Tokyo Bay Zone. Heritage Zone venues are in central Tokyo, within the Yamanote Loop Line, while most Tokyo Bay Zone Venues are on Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay. A few football matches will be held at stadiums in other parts of Japan, like Sendai City." All sailing and a part of the cycling events will be held a bit further south west.

Japan's first participation at Olympic games was in July 1912 at the 5th Olympic Games in Stockholm. Japan held the summer Olympic games in Tokyo in 1964 and the winter Olympic games in Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998. The 2020 Summer Games are scheduled to be held in Tokyo in 2021.

However, Ramy Inocencio reported for the US media CBS News that rumours of cancellation are spreading: " Exactly six months from the scheduled start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Japan's government was vehemently denying reports on Friday that it had privately accepted the Games were doomed. A Thursday article by The Times of London, claiming officials had privately conceded that the already-rescheduled Olympics would have to be scrapped due to the pandemic, drew a sharp rebuttal from Tokyo."

"Originally set for summer 2020, the games were postponed in March last year as the first wave of coronavirus infections swept across the globe.But with COVID-19 cases on the rise in Japan and elsewhere, many remain deeply skeptical that the Summer Games can be pulled off. Now, as Japan grapples with its third wave of the pandemic, public support for the games is at an all-time low in the country, with many people calling for the event to be cancelled outright."

"About 60 million people — including Tokyo and about half of the country — are currently under a month-long state of emergency, set to last at least until February 7. The country is recording more new cases on a daily basis than it was 10 months ago, when the Olympics were first postponed."