What to Call 2021 Olympics? Just One of Many Challenges for Japan

“The Olympic Games might be a liability rather than a political opportunity for Prime Minister Abe,” Mr. Yamaguchi said.

For the public, which overwhelmingly indicated in opinion polls that the Games should not be staged this year, the extension could lead to fatigue.

Ichiro Masaki, 50, who works at a building maintenance company in Tokyo and bought tickets for the pentathlon and soccer, said he wasn’t sure if he could use the tickets next year. “Well, honestly, I’m not as excited as I was when I first got the tickets,” Mr. Masaki said. “If my work schedule allows, I will probably go to see the Games, but I might just get a refund.”

The postponement came just in time for the Tokyo organizers to cancel the torch relay, which was scheduled to start Thursday in Fukushima, the site of a nuclear disaster in 2011.

Fukushima had hoped to benefit from an Olympic narrative pitching the prefecture’s recovery from the deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown nine years ago. Delaying the relay defers these hopes for another year, but it may have helped avert another disaster.

With the Olympic flame on display in various prefectures last week, thousands of spectators gathered to see it. Jun Suzuki, an Olympics official in charge of promoting Fukushima Prefecture, said that 3,000 people gathered for two hours on Tuesday in front of Fukushima’s main railway station to view the flame in its caldron.

Public health officials have warned that such crowds can be breeding grounds for infection, and since late last month Mr. Abe had requested that large sports and cultural events be postponed or canceled.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/world/asia/japan-olympics-delay.html