Japanese warm to Olympics with medal rush, but struggle rising COVID-19 cases

TOKYO – Mark Adams, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), considered the question – one at the heart of whether the Tokyo Games should have been staged. 

Before the Olympics, polls showed up to 80 percent of people in Japan opposed the Games being held. Largely, those people feared that tens of thousands of people coming to the Olympics from outside the country would cause a surge in COVID-19 cases and, as a result, increase the number of deaths.  

As of last week, COVID-19 cases in Tokyo had doubled, and reached a daily record of 3,865 on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga saying, “Infections are expanding in the Tokyo and western metropolitan areas at an enormous speed that we have never experienced before.''

Seven days into the Olympics, with government officials denying a link between the Games and spike in COVID-19 cases, Adams faced this question: What sense do you have about how the Olympics are being received in Japan now?  

“I saw yesterday, I’m sure you all did too, that positive mentions on Twitter in Japan now overcome negative ones,” he said Friday. “I don’t think that’s a very scientific way of judging things but clearly, I think (Japan) winning 15 gold medals … I think that will have a big effect.''

Later that day, Japan's gold medal haul jumped to 17 and the country had won 28 medals in all. Five years ago, Japan took home 12 golds for the entire Rio Games. 

“The Olympic Games in normal times, there’s always a pick-up as the Games progress and particularly as the host nation in this case starts to do well,'' Adams said. "I think that has been magnified.” 

Another way to gauge how Japan is responding to the Olympics is to walk through the venues and ask people – journalists, volunteers and other locals. 

The spiritual home of martial arts, as it is known here, stands 138 feet high. It is covered by an octagonal-shaped roof and topped by a golden ornament shaped like an onion.  

The magic is inside.  

Teiji Kuroki, 65, is a cameraman who is filming the judo competition at the Nippon Budokan and witnessing a Japanese gold rush.  

Japan has won nine gold medals in what’s considered the country’s national sport. But during a break between sessions this week, Kuroki unfolded a copy of The Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest newspapers in the country, and looked at the front page. 

The banner headline reported the daily rate of COVID-19 cases in Tokyo had hit a record high. Beneath it was a small story on the latest gold medals Japan had won in Judo.  

“He says that he likes the Olympics personally," said an Olympic volunteer who translated for Kuroki. “He loves it. But the public and the atmosphere from the outside makes him that he cannot show that."

Mariko Tauchi, 35, was the volunteer translating for Kuroki. She said she works for an advertising agency and had offered to help with the media during the judo competition. 

She said her company did not support her decision to volunteer at the Games but that it will pay her for those two weeks. 

“But not enough,’’ she said with a grin. 

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony a week ago and some were there to voice their opposition to the Games. Protesters with microphones chanted throughout the first hour of the opening ceremony.  

But Irene Andanasari, an Olympics volunteer helping direct people to busses, noted something else. She pointed out that her 18-year-old daughter, Erina, was one of scores of young people, some carrying posters, who lined the streets and tried to spot athletes riding by in buses. 

Andanasari wondered if disproportionate number of people opposing the Olympics are older. 

“My daughter, she really wants to see the athletes, many foreigners,’’ Andanasari said.   

Sakae Funabashi said she is working for The Asahi Shimbun and recalled hearing the sound of protesters when she attended the opening ceremony.  

“I felt sad,’’ she said. “Really sad.’’  

But the next day, Japanese skateboarder Yuto Horigome won the gold medal in men’s street skateboarding. The day after that, 13-year-old Japanese skateboarder Momiji Nishiya won the gold medal in the women’s street competition.  

“Going back home in the train at night, there were skateboarders,’’ Funabashi said. “I never saw the skateboarders. Very young people with tattoos and a knitted hat. Proud of themselves. I was happy to see them feeling happy and showing their existence.  

“For Japanese, Olympics is something so special. Like the pyramids in Egypt."

Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, said he’s seen sentiment shifting in Tokyo.  

“Yeah, the people are warming up to the Olympics because Japan has a medal rush and everybody likes to see the Japanese athletes do well,’’ he said. “I think that’s really pumped up enthusiasm.   

“On the other hand, we’re hitting record numbers of Delta variant cases and Tokyo’s topped 3,000 (a day), the nation’s close to 10,000 (a day).’’  

Recently, Kingston said, he went to get his second vaccination shot. 

“I asked people there about Olympics and they were far more interested in talking about the surge in COVID cases,’’ he said.  

Almost 50 percent of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated. In Japan, approximately 20 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.  

“They’ve done a lot better job in rolling out the Olympics than they have on the vaccinations,’’ Kingston said. “I think the buzz of the Olympics is offset by surging anxiety of the people.’’ 

Contributing: Rachel Axon, Associated Press