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Kayoko Takahashi
tried to extinguish the Olympic torch with a squirt gun. It was unsuccessful. Or maybe yes. Depending from which side you look at it. The failure was that the jet of water only soaked the last former athlete who carried the flame during a symbolic relay race. But Kayoko managed to get the world's newscasts to broadcast her image by going out with a plastic pistol among the crowd that accompanied the passage of the torch in Senba Park in the city of Mito, northeast of Tokyo. And, above all, that the phrase he shouted before shooting the water was heard: "Stop the Olympic Games."
Kayoko, 53-year-old unemployed, ended up that night of July 4 at the police station. "No Olympics," she yelled again as four Japanese policemen pounced on her to arrest her. Both of Kayoko's screams reached Tokyo. They even became phrases stamped on T-shirts that many citizens now buy online and wear these days on the streets of the capital of the world's third largest economy. It is their particular protest before the start of an Olympic Games that few Japanese celebrate.
"After four states of emergency and coexisting as best we can with a fifth wave that is leaving more than 1,000 infections a day, now we also have to welcome 11,000 athletes from all over the world, plus all their coaches, assistants and journalists. competitions and there are already more than 50 positives among athletes. It was a mistake not to cancel the Olympic Games, but we are still on time, "claims A
iko Otomo
, a Tokyo cardiologist who runs a Facebook page with 5,000 followers asking for the suspension of the Olympics.
AFP
"If Tokyo falls into a state where people in need of hospital treatment cannot be admitted to hospitals, we should consider canceling the Olympics," says another doctor,
Nobuhiko Okabe
, who sits on the expert panel on measures. antivirus of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games.
"We are more than 15 groups that have been going out every week to protest in the streets. We have even organized demonstrations in many of the parts of the country where the Olympic torch passed," says Professor
Jun Oenoki
, who leads a movement called "Cancel the Olympic Disaster of 2020".
His mother,
Miyuki
, 77, became famous in May for leading a protest by holding a banner with a striking message: "The Olympics kill the poor."
Toyota withdraws its advertising
The outcome of Tokyo 2020 is uncertain. What is certain is that these Games, in addition to going down in history due to the pandemic, postponement included, will be remembered for being the most unpopular ever held. At least, by a large part of the population of the host country. And also by the sponsors themselves. This Tuesday, the Japanese giant Toyota assured that it was withdrawing its Olympic ads for fear that its brand would be damaged by the great popular rejection that there is in the Asian country to the celebration of the event.
Local media polls, depending on how the question is asked, have been warning for months that
between 50% and 80% of Japanese are opposed to holding the Olympic Games
. Everything has rowed against Tokyo 2020. There have been many potholes since former Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe
managed to win the Olympics for the capital in 2013 two years after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that caused the triple nuclear meltdown in Fukushima.
The Japanese government has had to deal with allegations of bribery during the bidding phase and a plagiarism controversy surrounding the original logo of the Games from the beginning. As well as several sexist controversies. In February this year, then-Chairman of the Games organizing committee,
Yoshiro Mori
, an 83-year political veteran who was prime minister, suggested that women "talked too much" at meetings of the 35-person committee. , of which, seven are women. Mori, despite publicly apologizing, ended up resigning and giving up his position to former Olympic figure skater
Seiko Hashimoto
.
However, there is nothing that has triggered the division of the Japanese more than the pandemic.
When the Games were postponed last summer, the general presumption among Japanese leaders was that they would be held at a time when Covid would be under control and everyone was practically vaccinated.
But Tokyo 2020 will not mark the celebration of the new post-pandemic era.
On July 8, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo until August 22.
There will be no applause in the stands at the Olympic venues and no push for the depressed local economy.
It will also be the first time such an unpopular Olympic Games have been held in its host country.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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