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Two people wearing masks walk past a banner for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. (EPA/Yonhap News)

Concerns about the Olympics are growing both inside and outside of Japan.

Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun, a sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics, ran a special editorial calling on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to call off the Olympics.

An expert who advises the New Zealand government on COVID-19 measures said it would be “absurd” to hold the Olympics. And Taiwan’s baseball team has pulled out of a qualifying round for the Olympics.

The Asahi Shimbun’s editorial Wednesday was titled “Prime Minister Suga, please call off the Olympics this summer.”

The newspaper typically runs two editorials, but in this edition the Olympics editorial filled the entire space.

This is the first time a major newspaper has explicitly called for the Olympics to be called off.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be brought under control, rendering it inevitable that the government will have to declare another extension of the state of emergency currently covering Tokyo and other prefectures,” the newspaper said, arguing that the Olympics could threaten “the lives, health, and livelihoods of citizens.”

“We demand that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga evaluate the situation calmly and objectively and decide against holding the Olympics and Paralympics this summer.”

As recently as the beginning of May, the Asahi Shimbun had only been skeptical about the Olympics, urging the Japanese government to take a “clear-eyed look at reality.” But now, the newspaper has advocated that the Olympic Games be called off just two months before the opening ceremony.

The Asahi Shimbun also called out Suga by name and warned him not to exploit the Olympics for political purposes.

“The Tokyo Olympics are becoming a tool for the Suga administration to remain in power and win the next election. The prime minister is reportedly determined to proceed with the games, no matter what the Japanese people have to say.”

Opposition to the Olympics appears to be forming in the international community after the US State Department elevated its travel advisory to Japan to the highest level of “do not travel” on Monday.

Otago University professor Michael Baker, a public health expert who advises the New Zealand government on its COVID-19 measures, told Reuters in an interview Tuesday that the Olympics need to be cancelled.

“The Olympics [. . .] involve a huge amount of international travel and mass gatherings, and they’re two things that are entirely incompatible with the pandemic,” Baker said.

“It’s going to cost lives having the Olympics at the moment,” Baker said. “I really feel for the athletes who trained so hard to go, but there’s no reason, no justification whatsoever, to have the Olympics at the moment.”

New Zealand announced in March 2020 that its athletes wouldn’t attend the games before the Tokyo Olympics were delayed.

Taiwan’s national baseball team said that it’s giving up its shot at competing in the Tokyo Olympics because of health and safety issues, the first group of athletes to do so.

The Taiwan-based Chinese Professional Baseball League announced Tuesday that it had decided, following discussion with the five teams in the league, not to send athletes to the world qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. The winners of the qualifiers can advance to the finals in the Olympics, but the Taiwanese team won’t even be competing in the qualifiers.

However, the US is looking into allowing athletes to attend the Tokyo Olympics despite the “do not travel “advisory.

“The President proudly supports US athletes [. . .] traveling under the Olympic umbrella [. . .] within their strict COVID protocols,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Tuesday.

Psaki’s remarks are taken to mean that the US is discussing ways to send athletes to the Tokyo Olympics while strictly following COVID-19 control measures.

“Our position has not changed on the Olympics,” Psaki said, suggesting that the US is leaning toward participating in the Tokyo Olympics.

Kim So-youn, staff reporter

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