TOKYO: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will visit Japan from July 8, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee said Wednesday.

Bach is considering visiting the western city of Hiroshima on July 16, when an Olympic truce based on a UN resolution starts, informed sources said.

John Coates, chair of the IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Olympics, who has already arrived in Japan, is considering visiting the southwestern city of Nagasaki on July 16.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by the August 1945 U.S. atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II.

According to the organizing committee, Bach will visit Japan after receiving vaccinations against the novel coronavirus. He is set to stay inside a hotel for three days from his arrival.

He will attend a series of meetings with the organizing committee and other relevant events until the July 23 opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.

Bach is set to take part in the IOC’s executive board meeting at a Tokyo hotel from July 17 and the IOC’s general meeting from July 20.

He was initially slated to visit Japan from mid-May to attend the Hiroshima Prefecture leg of the Olympic torch relay.

But the plan was scrapped due to the spread of the coronavirus in Japan. He also decided not to visit the country in June, as its central government extended a COVID-19 state of emergency for Tokyo and some other areas.

JIJI Press