1-a 開幕前/ コロナウイルス拡大による混乱
（2021年5月～6月/ 英字新聞）
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1 Japan swimmer Ikee pleads for understanding amid calls for athletes to withdraw from Olympics
2 Olympic medical staff to be tested daily at venues
3 Opinion split in Tokyo over whether Games should be held
4 Japan's Tokyo Games Athletes, officials start receiving vacinations
5 Tokyo organizers say 10,000 prospective volunteers have pulled out
6 Remote first aid' system eyed for Games spectator
7 Tokyo Games committee unveils environmentally friendly podium
8 Half of Japanese people think Olympics will be held this summer: poll
開幕前の混乱 1-b 無観客開催？
Japan swimmer Ikee pleads for understanding amid calls for athletes to
withdraw from Olympics(May 08, 2021/ The Japan News/ Reuters)
Reuters TOKYO (Reuters) — Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee, who qualified for the Olympics after overcoming leukaemia last year, asked the public to show patience and support for athletes amid mounting calls for them to pull out of the Tokyo Games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 20-year-old’s story has become a bright spot in a tortured build-up to the Olympics, with Japan’s government facing increasing criticism for forging ahead during an upsurge in infections.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated that it is still possible to host the Games, due to run from July 23 to Aug. 8, even as a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas was extended on Friday until the end of May to stem a surge in infections.
Ikee said she and others will accept whatever the organisers decide.
“If there is one, we will of course do our best, and if not, we will just do our best for the next one,” Ikee said in a post on Twitter on Friday.
Foreign spectators have been barred from attending the Games, and organisers will decide next month whether Japanese fans will be allowed into the venues.
Ikee also sought sympathy for athletes, who are being urged by critics to take individual decisions to try to persuade the organisers to call off the Games.
“It is very painful to put it on the individual athlete,” she said.
“Even if you ask me to speak out against the Games, I can’t change anything,” she said, asking her fans to “warmly watch over the athletes who are working hard, no matter what the situation is.”
More than 270,000 signatures have been collected by Saturday in an online petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics.
Kenji Utsunomiya, former president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, began the petition on Wednesday, saying that holding the Games without stopping the pandemic would “deviates greatly from the Olympics philosophy which is supposed to be a festival of peace”.
Ikee, who won six gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games, was expected to be one of Japan’s top medal hopefuls at the Olympics before she was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019.
Last month, Ikee wrapped up the national championships with four titles, including the women’s 100-metre butterfly and 100-metre freestyle events, less than eight months after she returned to competition following her recovery.
*withdraw=ｳｲずﾄﾞﾛｰ=～を取り消す、～を撤退させる、出場を取り消す〔from〕
to stop participating in something/ to leave an area/ to pull out（撤退する）
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Olympic medical staff to be tested daily at venues(May 19, 2021/ The Japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Yomiuri ShimbunMedical staff working at Games venues will undergo daily coronavirus tests, according to Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa.
The tests will be conducted on “people who are likely to be in close proximity with athletes, within 1 meter for more than 15 minutes,” Marukawa told reporters on Tuesday.
Some media personnel, volunteer interpreters, and drivers are also expected to be tested to prevent the spread of infections.
The movements of athletes and competition officials will be restricted during the Games to create an isolated “bubble” from the outside world, with participants moving mainly between the athletes’ village and competition venues.
“One of the criteria [for the daily testing] will be whether people enter the bubble,” Marukawa said.
Marukawa also said Tuesday that supercomputers and artificial intelligence technology will be used to verify the flow of people around the venues for the Games as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Marukawa said the central government plans to work with the Tokyo metropolitan government on the project.
“I want to integrate science in our response to the concerns of the public [regarding the Games],” she said.
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Opinion split in Tokyo over whether Games should be held(May 31, 2021/ The Japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Yomiuri Shimbun asked Tokyo residents about the measures they wanted to see taken regarding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which are less than two months away.
In a telephone survey conducted from May 28 through 30, a total of 49% of the 1,001 respondents supported holding the Games, including 25% who said they should be held with a limited number of spectators and 24% who said there should be no spectators. This was essentially a split with the 48% who favored canceling the Games.
In a nationwide poll conducted from May 7 to 9 by The Yomiuri Shimbun, 59% of respondents favored canceling the Games while only 39% favored holding them.
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Japan's Tokyo Games Athletes, officials start receiving vaccinations(June 02, 2021/ The japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Members of Japan’s national teams for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games began receiving vaccinations against COVID-19 on Tuesday.
According to an announcement by the Japanese Olympic Committee, about 200 people, including national team officials and members of six sports organizations taking part in the Games, were vaccinated at the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences in Kita Ward, Tokyo, on the day.
“Reducing the infection risk [of the national team members] leads to the prevention of infections in Japanese society,” said Japan’s Olympic delegation head Tsuyoshi Fukui after receiving his first dose of the vaccine, emphasizing the importance of vaccination.
According to the Japan Football Association, soccer players age 24 and younger representing Japan at the Games received the vaccination on Tuesday morning, and none have shown any strong adverse reactions.
Tokyo Games athletes and officials are receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the disease, which has been provided free by the International Olympic Committee to national teams of each country and territory taking part in the Games. In Japan, about 1,600 athletes and officials covered by the scheme are each expected to receive two doses of vaccine before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games on July 23.
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Tokyo organizers say 10,000 prospective volunteers have pulled out(June 03, 2021/ The japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games have lost more than 10% of their prospective volunteers with less than two months to go before the opening ceremony, the organizing committee said on Wednesday.
About 10,000 of the 80,000 volunteers to be stationed at venues and other Olympic locations have pulled out, said Toshiro Muto, director general of the organizing committee.
Although they were not asked for specific reasons for their withdrawals, Muto said, “In addition to anxiety about getting infected with the coronavirus, it may have been because of changes in their situation, such as a work transfer in the one year that the Games were postponed.”
When the original operational plan was simplified through such measures as barring foreign spectators, the organizers found that some would be able to handle tasks at both the Olympics and Paralympics, so there is no intention of recruiting more volunteers.
“Even with smaller numbers, it doesn’t have a particular effect on operations,” Muto said.
With the decrease in volunteers, the number of people living in Japan who will be involved in the Games is expected to be about 190,000 for the Olympics and about 110,000 for the Paralympics.
■ Omi issues warning
In related news, the head of the government’s advisory panel on the coronavirus stressed what is needed if, against his advice, the Games go ahead as planned.
“Under the current circumstances, it is not normal [to hold the Games],” Shigeru Omi, chairman of the subcommittee on coronavirus countermeasures, said at a meeting of House of Representatives’ Health, Labor and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.
“If they are going to go on, it is the responsibility of the organizers to minimize the scale as much as possible, and to strengthen the administrative system as much as possible.”
Omi also stressed the need for accountability of the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments and the organizing committee, saying, “It is necessary that they explain what risks there are after making a thorough assessment.”
In response, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters Wednesday night at the Prime Minister’s Office, “We will take thorough measures to prevent infections and hold safe and secure Games.”
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'Remote first aid' system eyed for Games spectator(June 4, 2021/ The Japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Tokyo metropolitan government and other organizations are considering a “remote first aid” system for spectators and volunteers at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, sources said.
Under the system, the condition of someone who suddenly becomes ill will be relayed by video or other means from a first-aid station to a remotely situated doctor, who will then instruct nurses at the stations to give first aid or send the patient to the hospital for further treatment.
The system is aimed at reducing the burden on medical services by having one doctor take care of more than one first-aid station.
According to the Tokyo metropolitan government and other organizations, first-aid stations will be set up along the roads connecting 24 Olympic venues in Tokyo with their nearest train stations to deal with heatstroke and accidents among spectators and volunteers.
Before the event was postponed, it was planned for about 1,000 doctors to be posted at the first-aid stations.
But it is now necessary to reduce the burden on medical services in light of the need to treat COVID-19 patients and administer vaccinations against the novel coronavirus. Taking into account the spread of online medical services amid the pandemic, the metropolitan government is considering allowing doctors in remote locations to examine patients at first-aid stations by using the video chat functions of smartphones and tablets.
Games staff will be instructed to send emergency patients to hospitals, for example, when a thorough medical examination or further treatment is deemed necessary. It is also expected that nurses will provide first aid to patients at the first-aid stations.
The Tokyo metropolitan government has begun discussions on the matter with the Tokyo Medical Association and other organizations.
7 Tokyo Games committee unveils environmentally friendly podium
(June 4, 2021/ The Japan News/ The Yomiuri Shimbun)
The Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled Thursday an awards podium made of recycled materials.
The 98 podiums, featuring the Games’ indigo color, were made using 24.5 tons of recycled plastic, including empty detergent bottles collected from households.
“The podiums were constructed using techniques and technology that will be used by the next generation,” said Asao Tokoro, the artist who designed the awards platforms. “They will finally be completed when the athletes stand on top of them.”
*podium=ﾎﾟｳﾃﾞｨｱﾑ=指揮台、演題、表彰台
an awards podium/ an awards platform
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Half of Japanese people think Olympics will be held this summer: poll(June 8, 2021 / Japan Today/ By Makiko Yamazaki and Antoni Slodkowski))
Half of the Japanese public think the 2020 Olympics will take place this summer, a survey by the Yomiuri daily newspaper showed on Monday, despite most people opposing holding the Games during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Olympics have already been postponed by a year amid concerns over how organizers can keep volunteers, athletes, officials and the Japanese public safe when they begin on July 23 after a fourth wave of infections.
Opposition lawmakers grilled Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and cabinet ministers in the Diet on Monday over the decision to press ahead with the event after several polls showed the public was not in favor.
Top government officials repeatedly said that the government would continue to work on coronavirus measures for a "safe and secure" Games, and that a decision on domestic spectators would be made this month.
"Taking infection control measures for athletes and Games officials so athletes from the world can safely participate and to protect our people's lives and health, I think that is the premise of holding (the Olympics)," Suga told lawmakers.
In a Yomiuri survey conducted from June 4-6, 50% of respondents said the Games would happen this summer; 26% said they would take place without spectators. Some 48% said the event would be cancelled.
But most of the respondents in the same poll said virus measures for athletes and participants were inadequate, while public support for the Suga administration hit its lowest level, at 37%.
Foreign spectators are already prohibited from the Olympics and Japanese may also be kept away from what organizers promise will be a sanitized "bubble" event to minimize contagion risk.
Local authorities have scaled down Olympic torch relay events and host towns for Olympic athletes changed their minds.
Saitama Prefecture decided to cancel its plan to install two public viewing sites, Saitama Gov Motohiro Ono said on Monday. Ono said prevention of infection was more important than excitement.
Japanese Olympic Committee board member Kaori Yamaguchi, a judo bronze medalist at the 1988 Seoul Games, added to rancor around Japan when she said on Friday her nation had been "cornered" into pressing ahead with the Games and accused the JOC of riding roughshod over public opinion.
About 3,500 out of over 40,000 "city volunteers" recruited by regional governments for the Olympics have pulled out, NHK reported. That adds to 10,000 volunteers who had already withdrawn, according to the organizers.
