On the eve Tokyo Olympics, The organizers fired the director of the opening ceremony because he made comments on the massacre, and the media reported that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, an unforgettable advocate for the Tokyo Olympics, would skip the show.
This news is the latest in a series of embarrassing incidents for Tokyo organizers, which caused anger at home and abroad, and was released a few days later. A well-known musician was forced to step down As the composer of the ceremony after the old reports about his bullying and insulting behavior surfaced.
Abe was known as a plumber in the video game “Super Mario” at the Rio Olympics. He represented Japan and played a huge role in attracting the Olympics to Tokyo.
In 2013, in a speech in front of a banquet hall full of IOC members, Fukushima’s lingering nuclear disaster was “under control” and promoted his country as “a passionate, proud, and determined to the Olympic Games”. Believers”.
At that time, Abe and his supporters hoped that the Olympics could be parallel to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, heralding Japan’s recovery after decades of economic stagnation, and marking Japan’s devastating nuclear disaster and natural disaster in 2011. Recovered from the disaster.
On the contrary, the Olympic Games, which was postponed for one year due to the global pandemic, faced a series of setbacks, including the withdrawal of Yoshiro Mori, the former chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, who resigned after making sexist remarks. Soon after, Hiroshi Sasaki, the creative director of the Tokyo Olympics, resigned after making derogatory comments to a popular Japanese female artist.
The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee stated that Kentaro Kobayashi, who was listed as the director of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, was fired after he reappeared in the domestic media because he joked about the massacre in a 1998 comedy show.
The International Jewish Rights Organization Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a statement earlier condemning Kobayashi’s past actions.
“Any connection between this person and the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of 6 million Jews and make a cruel mockery of the Paralympics,” said Abraham Cooper, the rabbi, deputy dean and director of the center’s global social action.
Low-key things
The opening ceremony on Friday is usually the main show in the host country. Will be a soft thingAccording to Japanese media reports, less than 950 people will participate, including about 15 global leaders.
First lady Jill Biden is expected to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which has raised expectations. She may also use her attendance to discuss vaccine issues with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Biden has been traveling all over the United States, urging more people in the country to get vaccinated.
Only one-third of Japanese people received at least one dose of the vaccine, which intensified public concern that the Olympics might become a super-spreading event. Dozens of participants have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing athletes to retire and teammates to be quarantined.
On the second day of the Tokyo Olympic softball match, Canada defeated the United States 1-0
NHK stated that after the Japanese government declared Tokyo a state of emergency and virus restrictions, Abe decided not to participate in the ceremony in order to minimize the health risks of residents and tourists. Thursday is a public holiday in Japan, and Abe’s office could not be contacted immediately.
The number of COVID-19 infections in the capital has surged and is expected to soar further, putting pressure on healthcare providers.
In a recent poll by the Asahi newspaper, 68% of the respondents expressed doubts about the Olympic organizers’ ability to control the coronavirus infection, and 55% of the respondents said they opposed the continuation of the Olympics.
The Olympic games have begun. The Japanese women’s softball team gave the hosts a victory on Wednesday, while the top-ranked American women’s football team was defeated by Sweden.
The second day of softball began early on Thursday under the cloudy sky of Fukushima, when the United States defeated Canada 2-0. Japan will face Mexico later.
New COVID-19 case among athletes
On Thursday, the four residents of the Olympic Village included two athletes. They were included in the list of people who tested positive for COVID-19 this month at the Tokyo Olympics, bringing the total to 91.
Among the cases announced on Wednesday, the Dutch skateboarder Candi Jacobs and the Czech Republic table tennis player Pavel Sirucek tested positive and had to leave the village and enter the quarantine hotel.
Since July 1, a total of 91 cases listed by the organizers include two other “personnel related to the Olympics”-a category of personnel including team coaches and officials_ who have stayed in a village overlooking Tokyo Bay.
This number does not include athletes who tested positive at home before they were scheduled to travel to Tokyo to participate in an event they will now miss.
(Reporting by Mari Saito, Daniel Leussink, Kiyoshi Takenaka, and Tim Kelly; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
