Arab News Japan

TOKYO: As we hit the 30-day mark before the Tokyo Olympics, an estimated 850 Japanese gathered before the Metropolitan Government Building to send the world a message that came as no surprise: “Please don’t come to Japan.”

And their message couldn’t be more serious: Not only is the coronavirus infection rate in Japan and its capital city growing, but earlier in the day news broke out that another athlete from Uganda tested positive.

“We oppose the Olympic Games,” “Cancel the Tokyo Olympics,” and “Use the money for Covid-19” were among the calls from the demonstrators, who met a representative of the city’s education board and demanded the cancellation of a program to let children from area schools attend the games.

The demonstrators took turns chanting slogans against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while displaying placards criticizing Thomas Bach and Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who has been hospitalized due to fatigue.

A nurse held up a sign asking foreign people “not to enter Japan” and said, “We have to avoid having our already overloaded hospitals become more crowded with infected people.”

While the protest was going on, a van equipped with loudspeakers disrupted the demonstration by echoing pro-Olympic slogans and opposing wearing face masks, which are used by an overwhelming number of the Japanese population, eventually forcing the police to remove the vehicle.