Tokyo Olympics: 70% of Japanese population want Games cancelled or postponed

Games are set to go ahead this summer, having been delayed from 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic

The Tokyo Waterfront just outside of Japan’s capital city (AFP via Getty Images)

More than 70 per cent of the Japanese population want the Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled or postponed once more as the Covid-19 pandemic continues, a Kyodo News poll showed on Monday.

The poll was carried out just over 100 days before the scheduled start of the Games, which were originally set to take place in 2020 but were delayed due to the effects of the pandemic.

The survey showed 39.2 per cent want the Games cancelled altogether, while 32.8 per cent favour another delay. Only 24.5 per cent want the world’s largest sporting event to go ahead as scheduled.

Tokyo on Monday began a month-long period of quasi-emergency measures to blunt a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections driven by virulent mutant strains.

More than 92.6 per cent of respondents felt anxiety about the resurgence of infections, the Kyodo survey conducted 10-12 April showed.

While vaccination shots for people aged 65 and above began at some 120 sites across the country on Monday, the imported doses are still in short supply and the pace of inoculations is unlikely to stop the latest wave of infections.

The survey found that about 60 per cent of people were dissatisfied with Japan’s progress on vaccinations.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s cabinet approval rate rose 1.9 percentage points from a month earlier to 44 per cent, while his disapproval rating was at 36.1 per cent, the survey showed. 

Reuters