The Olympic Games in Japan continue to shrink to the beat of a counting rhyme.

On Thursday, the organizers excluded spectators in the capital Tokyo and in three neighboring prefectures in order to reduce the risk of an increase in Covid infection.

In five more distant prefectures, in which the pandemic situation appears less worrying, spectators should still be allowed to attend soccer, softball and baseball games in limited numbers.

These decisions are now shaky.

Patrick Welter

Japan business and political correspondent based in Tokyo.

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    On Friday, the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido announced that it would not allow spectators to attend football games in the Hokkaido Dome.

    Fukushima Prefecture followed on Saturday for softball and baseball games in Fukushima City.

    This means that spectators of the Olympic Games are still allowed in the prefectures of Miyagi (soccer) and Shizuoka (track cycling).

    Ibaraki only wants to allow schoolchildren to attend soccer games, who should be introduced to the sport and the international atmosphere in a special ticket program.

    However, the organizers do not rule out cancellations from these three prefectures either.

    No changes are currently planned in these prefectures, according to the press release of the Organizing Committee of the Games.

    The decision is particularly bitter for Fukushima Prefecture, which wants to use the competitions to draw attention to how much the region has recovered from the old power plant accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. "The increasing number of infections in the prefecture leaves no room for optimism," said Governor Masao Uchibori, justifying the decision. Already on July 21st, a softball game between Japan and Australia will take place in Fukushima as the first sporting event of the games before the official opening.

    Meanwhile, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, addressed the athletes in a video message on Saturday and promised them a mass audience despite the absence of spectators in almost all stadiums.

    "The circumstances will be completely different, but you don't need to feel alone in the stadiums," said Bach.

    “Billions of people from all over the world will be tied to the screen.

    I hope you feel this support. "  

    The IOC expects more than five billion people to watch the games on TV.

    Bach justified the rejection to viewers with the fact that the players should take place in a safe environment.