Tokyo (AFP)

The Olympic flame arrived in Tokyo on Friday, but the public was kept away from a rather dismal ceremony, the day after the unprecedented decision to ban spectators from most of the Olympic venues, for fear of the Covid- 19.

Under a gray and rainy sky, exactly two weeks before the opening of the Games scheduled for July 23, the Olympic flame was carried on stage in a lantern and symbolically handed over to Yuriko Koike, governor of Tokyo.

"I am happy that we are welcoming the Torch Relay with these heirlooms that we proudly show at home and abroad," said Ms Koike, trying to put on a good face despite visible signs of illness and as she recently been hospitalized for overwork.

Thursday, Ms. Koike had estimated that the closed door during the Olympics was a "heartbreak", while calling on the inhabitants to follow the competitions at home "in a safe way".

This is a new measure unprecedented in Olympic history, after the renunciation of spectators coming from abroad in March and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics last year because of the pandemic.

- Empty stadium -

Athletes from around the world expected in Tokyo have expressed their disappointment, some, like the Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios, even preferring to throw in the towel.

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This almost total closed session was decided in the wake of a decision by the Japanese government to reinstate a state of emergency - the fourth since the start of the pandemic - in Tokyo until August 22, in the face of a local upsurge in cases. of Covid-19 and the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

This device, which will thus cover the entire period of the Olympic Games ending on August 8, notably provides for restrictions for bars and restaurants.

The Olympic torch relay, which left in March from the Fukushima department, was supposed to generate enthusiasm in Japan, but it was banned from the public streets in many departments, including Tokyo, due to health risks.

The stands thus remained empty Friday to welcome the flame at the stadium of the Olympic Park of Komazawa, in the southern suburbs of the capital, built for the Olympic Games of 1964 which had been extremely popular in Japan.

- "Olympic aristocrats" -

The Japanese archipelago has been relatively spared so far by the Covid-19 pandemic, with less than 15,000 officially recorded deaths since early 2020, but its vaccination program only accelerated from May.

About 17% of the population is fully vaccinated so far.

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Some Japanese newspapers such as the business daily Nikkei estimated Friday that the almost total ban on spectators might not be enough to stem the new wave of Covid-19 in Japan.

The center-left newspaper Asahi, which had pleaded for the cancellation of the Olympics at the end of May, criticized the government for a "forced passage".

Health experts and Japanese public opinion continue to worry about the potential risks associated with the arrival of nearly 70,000 people from abroad for the Olympics: athletes and their coaches, officials and journalists from all over the world. of the world, all subject to drastic restrictions.

"The Olympic Games without spectators means that they have become Olympic Games for aristocrats, because only Olympic aristocrats will be able to watch the Games," quipped a Japanese Internet user on Twitter.

Economically, however, the Olympics behind closed doors should have a "rather negligible" negative impact for Japan, Masamichi Adachi, an economist at UBS, told AFP on Friday.

Since the pandemic and the postponement of the Games last year, it had become clear that expectations about the event's economic fallout for Japan were often "exaggerated," he said.

The GDP of Japan, the third largest economy in the world, is even expected to rebound strongly in the second half of 2021, the steady progress of vaccination should allow a recovery in consumption, according to Mr. Adachi.

© 2021 AFP