– Finish the games, go home – VG

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Female protester: – When do we want it?

Crowds: – Now!

It has been four days since the fire was lit and the Olympics opened. Outside, hundreds of protesters had gathered. They shouted so loud that people inside the stadium could hear them.

One of them was Hisako Motoyama.

She has been an Olympic opponent ever since Japan was awarded the Games in 2013. Now the 52-year-old lists several arguments to substantiate his view.

The ongoing corona pandemic has only made her own more confident in her case: She does not understand how Japan can use up to NOK 264 billion at the Olympics instead of at the country’s health service:

– It is completely incredible. We still do not understand what will come out of the Olympics in the long run. I’m afraid of the final bill and that ordinary people will have to pay. People are already dying in their homes because there is no room in the hospital, Motoyama tells VG.

On a daily basis, she is a researcher at a university in the Japanese city of Kyoto. The 52-year-old woman also leads a women’s rights group in Japan.

She is used to roaring her opinions into a megaphone.

In the conversation with VG, on the other hand, she talks in a low voice about how the Olympics were once sold as a project that was to rebuild Japan after the nuclear accident in Fukushima in 2011.

The country should appear strong again.

– Instead, the Olympics have become a way to silence criticism after the Fukushima disaster. One gets the focus away from the fact that many are still suffering, Motoyama believes.

– Does the foreign press and the athletes in the Olympics also have a responsibility to say “no”, pack their luggage and go home?

– Yes, I think so. Finish the toys and go home.

The researcher laughs disarmingly. She says it with a twinkle in her eye – but is also serious:

– There have been far too many positive Olympic cases so far. We miss critical voices. Not just about the Tokyo Games, but about the Olympics in general. People should ask questions about arranging mega projects, as well as the consequences of it. Should we then enjoy the toys in front of the TV?

– Do not people need a flash of light, something positive, on TV in a time that can be difficult?

– In that case, it is as if you get a drug to escape reality. This is not the time to fool ourselves. When the authorities wanted the Olympics after the nuclear accident ten years ago, they sold a dream instead of dealing with the real problems, the 52-year-old says.

Irish John Gunning sitting in his apartment in a suburb of Tokyo.

Besides an occasional shopping trip, he was barely out of the house in the first half of 2020.

Gunning is now fully vaccinated. That is why he sometimes ventures into sports such as rugby. Those held outdoors.

Still, he has a nasty feeling in his stomach: In his job as a journalist with sumo wrestling, he takes many pictures. Photographers often have to stand close together to get their job done.

– There is clearly a danger that the Olympics will be a super spreader of corona. There is a genuine fear among the people of Japan that the toys could end in a medical disaster. Many Japanese have not been vaccinated, and if mutants appear or the virus spreads, it usually happens here first, Gunning tells VG.

It has been 17 years since he went on holiday to Japan. The Irish fell head over heels in love with the country. It took only a few months before he had a residential address in Osaka.

– There are two types of emotions that prevail among Japanese now: the fear that the Olympics will result in a violent spread of corona, and the feeling that the Olympics do not concern them, Gunning says.

He then describes a reality that VG’s journalist has already noticed during many and long journeys in Tokyo:

The huge city is almost chemically free of Olympic atmosphere. Besides an anonymous flag here and there, it is almost impossible to discover the Olympics – if you are not in the “bubble” where athletes, coaches and journalists move.

– Should the Olympics have been canceled?

– I would follow all medical advice that has been given here in Japan and said that the toys should have been canceled or postponed.

Gunning believes it is all about how the IOC will secure its revenues.

At the same time, he acknowledges that he is conservative. He believes that restrictions should be placed on restaurant operations, and that no major sporting events should take place during a pandemic.

– To what extent do people think that I and other journalists should pack their bags and get home as soon as possible?

– There is a conflict: Many are worried about what the Olympics can create. But Japan is also a country about extreme hospitality. So even if people are against the Olympics, it can be trumped by a desire for guests to feel good, Gunning believes.

On Thursday, 1929 new ones were registered cases of infection in Tokyo. Then the number dropped, before increasing to 1763 on Sunday.

It may sound small in a city with 38 million inhabitants. But the number is currently a record on a Sunday in Tokyo – ever since the pandemic broke out. And that worries a population that lives very close to each other.

Shinjuku Railway and Subway Station, where VG lives, is used by around 3 million people every day. An outbreak of infection can have major consequences.

In a national survey conducted for Kyodo News this week, 71 percent of those surveyed stated that they look forward to seeing the Olympic athletes in action on TV. At the same time, as many as 87 percent said that they fear that the Olympics will contribute to increased infection in Japan.

The majority in the country have long believed that the Olympics should be canceled or postponed.

– The protest movement does not seem so big when you see 500-600 people go by train in such a large city. But there is no tradition of demonstrations in this country. A person from Japan will not make people uncomfortable. They do not express dissatisfaction out loud. They do not talk on the phone on the subway. They do not use the car horn in traffic, says John Gunning.

He also has a part-time job as a writer as a sumo wrestling expert for The Japan Times.

The newspaper wrote on Monday this week about how the Japanese emperor did not use a word like “celebrate” when he opened the Olympics on Friday night. According to staff close to the emperor, many in Japan may find the word offensive at a time when the pandemic is costing many people a lot of money.

But in the official English The translation of the speech has been chosen to give the emperor the word “celebrates”, points out The Japan Times.

Article title:

“The Emperor’s Olympic statement reflects a divided people.”

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