By Spy Uganda
Tokyo 2020 sponsor Toyota will not run Olympics-related TV commercials amid lackluster public support for the Olympics with two-thirds of Japanese doubting organizers can keep the games safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a local media poll.
Chief Executive Officer of Toyota Motor Corp, Akio Toyoda and other executives will not attend the opening ceremony either, Toyota said on Monday.
“It is true that Toyota will not be attending the opening ceremony and the decision was made considering various factors including no spectators, We will not be airing any commercials related to the Games in Japan,” Toyota spokesperson said.
Some 60 Japanese corporations who have paid more than $3bn for sponsorship rights to the postponed 2020 Olympics now face a dilemma over whether or not to tie their brands to an event that has so far failed to win strong public backing.
With just four days before the opening ceremony in Tokyo, 68 percent of respondents in an Asahi newspaper poll expressed doubt about the ability of Olympic organizers to control coronavirus infections, with 55 percent saying they were opposed to the Games going ahead.
Three-quarters of the 1,444 people in the telephone survey said they agreed with a decision to ban spectators from events.
As COVID-19 cases rise in Tokyo, now under its fourth state of emergency, public concern has grown that hosting an event with tens of thousands of overseas athletes, officials and journalists could accelerate infection rates in Japan’s capital and introduce variants that are more infectious or deadlier.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has said he hopes the Japanese public will warm to the Games once competition begins and as Japanese athletes begin winning medals. The Tokyo Olympics will run from July 23 until August 8.
“We will continue to cooperate and work closely with organizers such as Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo 2020 and the IOC to ensure we have a safe and secure environment for the Games,” government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a regular briefing.
Games officials on Sunday reported the first COVID-19 cases among competitors in the athletes’ village in Tokyo where 11,000 athletes are expected to stay during the Games. Since July 2, Tokyo 2020 organizers have reported 58 positive cases among athletes, officials and journalists.
Any significant outbreak in the village could wreak havoc on competitions because those either infected or isolating would not be able to compete. Olympic officials and individual event organizers have contingency plans to deal with infections among athletes.
A Tokyo 2020 spokesperson said the village was a safe place to stay, adding that the infection rate among athletes and other Games-related people visiting Japan was nearly 0.1 percent.
On Sunday six British track and field athletes along with two staff members were forced to isolate after someone on their flight to Japan tested positive.
“Many athletes may have parties or ceremonies before they go to Tokyo where there may be cheering or greeting. So they may also have a risk to get infected in their own countries,” Koji Wada, a professor at Tokyo’s International University of Health and Welfare and an adviser on the government’s coronavirus response, told the press.
The latest surge in cases in Tokyo comes after four earlier waves, the deadliest of which was in January. New COVID-19 cases in Tokyo reached 1,410 on Saturday, the highest figure since the start of the year with new infections exceeding 1,000 for five straight days.
Most of those new cases are among younger people, as Japan has succeeded in getting most of its vulnerable elderly population vaccinated with at least one shot, although only 32 percent of the overall population has so far received one.
