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The Japanese government, the city of Tokyo, the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee held a virtual meeting Saturday and decided that the Tokyo Olympics in July will be held without any spectators from overseas. (Yonhap News)

The Tokyo Olympics in July will be held without any spectators from overseas, a first for the Olympic Games.

The decision was reached on the afternoon of Saturday during a virtual meeting of the Japanese government, the city of Tokyo, the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee.

The Japanese government said it had decided to exclude overseas spectators because of the danger of admitting large numbers of foreigners while variants of the COVID-19 virus are spreading and while the risk of infection remains severe both in Japan and abroad. The IOC and other organizations said they would accept Japan’s decision.

The Japanese government and the IOC have taken the unprecedented step of barring overseas spectators from the Olympic Games because of fears that already considerable domestic opposition to holding the games would get even worse if large numbers of spectators were allowed into the country from abroad.

Some analysts thought that preemptive measures should be taken to deflate a domestic push to further delay or outright cancel the Tokyo Olympics.

The Japanese government’s rejection of overseas spectators comes with a financial cost.

“Including expected visitor spending, this means a loss of around 150 billion yen (US$1.38 billion). This will also reduce opportunities for international exchange and for raising awareness of Japan’s recovery from the Tohoku earthquake, which were the original goals of holding the games,” the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a major Japanese newspaper, reported Sunday.

By Kim So-youn, staff reporter

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