The suspense over the Tokyo Olympics keeps growing with each passing day as the Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of abating. With parts of Japan under a state of emergency due to the virus and public opinion turning against the Games, top officials, including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, have been forced to issue statements that nothing is going to stop the country from hosting the event.
It’s a testing time for everybody but most of all for the athletes who have invested all their energies into making a name for themselves. With already a year wasted, their future is at stake, although most are still gung ho and pressing ahead with their plans for the Games scheduled to start on July 23.
But facts on the ground present a different story. Japan’s Olympic sponsors are scaling back advertising campaigns and delaying marketing events for the Games, concerned that public sentiment toward the event is souring.
Sponsors also worry that organisers have not told them what contingency plans there are in case the pandemic derails the Games again this year.
That uncertainty over the Olympics marks a fresh blow to domestic sponsors, including many of Japan’s biggest companies, such as Canon Inc and Japan Airlines Co Ltd, who have collectively pitched in more than $3bn to support the event.
Assurances by both the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee this month that the Games would begin as scheduled on July 23 have not quelled concerns.
Nearly 80% of the public now believes the Games should be cancelled or delayed further, according to a January survey by Kyodo.
“We’re asking ourselves, ‘are we really going to do this?’” said a person seconded by his company to the Olympic organising committee. The person, who like most of those interviewed, declined to be named as he is not allowed to speak to the media, said even raising the topic of a “Plan B” was discouraged.
Canon’s chief financial officer Toshizo Tanaka told reporters last Thursday the company was working under the assumption that the event would go ahead as planned. “But we are considering internally how to respond just in case it can’t be held,” he said.
For some local sponsors, the perks of supporting the event have long since faded. Sources at sponsor companies said they were still waiting on details from organisers so they could finalise preparations and roll out advertising campaigns.
Prime Minister Suga, who has pledged to hold the Olympics this year, has seen his support slide in recent weeks over the handling of the pandemic.
The uncertainty extends to the Olympic torch relay, scheduled for March 25 and meant to kick off celebrations ahead of the opening. But instead of planning parties for clients, sponsors are treading water because they don’t know whether spectators will be allowed.
For Motoji Kawasaki, an official in Tokyo’s Higashimurayama city, one immediate priority is finding a replacement for Ken Shimura, a celebrity torch runner who died of Covid-19 last year.
“There’s normally an air of excitement leading up to the Olympics,” he said. “But it’s too naive to think about that this year. Now, it is all about coronavirus,” he added.
That statement almost accurately sums up the mood around the world.
