Japanese Public Softening Stance on Tokyo Games

(ATR) Public opposition to holding the Tokyo Olympics is beginning to thaw, according to two new polls.

The latest telephone poll from the Yomiuri newspaper, carried out from June 4 to June 6, found 50 percent of those responding are now in favor of the Games being held as scheduled next month. That’s up from 39 percent in a survey done in early May.

Those who want the Games to be canceled fell to 48 percent from 59 percent the previous month. Postponing the Olympics was not an option for this poll.

Broadcaster TBS did include postponement in its latest poll, which found 44 percent approval for the Games to go ahead, a bump of nine percent from last month.

Cancellation was the choice of 31 percent while 24 percent favored postponement.

Organizers have repeatedly said for months that another postponement is not a possibility.

Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said late last week that the only way the Games won’t go on is if most of the countries were prevented from sending their delegations to Japan.

These newest polls are a reversal in the trend of increasing opposition to the Games in the past few weeks.

An Asahi Shimbun poll released on May 17 found 83 percent of voters wanted the Olympics and Paralympics either postponed or cancelled.

A poll conducted by Kyodo News and released at the same time did not give respondents the choice of postponing the Games.

This phone survey found 59.7 percent believe Tokyo 2020 should be cancelled, with 25.2 percent wanting the Games held without spectators and 12.6 wanting a limited number of spectators.

A decision on whether to allow domestic spectators is expected this month. Foreign fans have already been barred.

Suicide Suspected in Death of JOC Official

The death of a senior official at the Japanese Olympic Committee is being investigated as a suspected suicide by police in Tokyo.

Kyodo News reports the 52-year-old man was hit by a subway train after jumping onto the tracks, adding that the man was the head of accounting for the JOC.

Written by Gerard Farek

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