TOKYO, May 15 (NNN-NHK) – A Japanese lawyer, who launched an online petition, calling for the cancelation of this summer’s Olympics, implored Tokyo’s government to cancel the Games, saying that, protecting people’s lives from COVID-19 should take precedence above all else.
The petition received more than 350,000 signatures from Japan and overseas, since it was launched on May 5, and its organiser, Kenji Utsunomiya, a former head of Japan Federation of Bar Associations, said that, holding the Olympics had once again become completely untenable.
“Holding the Olympics should be welcomed by everyone, but that is not possible under the current situation. So the Olympics must be cancelled,” Utsunomiya said, after handing over the petition to Tokyo Governor, Yuriko Koike, with just 70 days to go until the scheduled opening.
“It is a question of which should be prioritised, people’s lives or the event itself,” added Utsunomiya, amid increased domestic opposition to the Games with Japan in the grip of a fourth wave of infections and Tokyo, along with other major urban areas, under a third state of emergency.
Utsunomiya highlighted the fact that Japan is still grappling with the pandemic, as many other countries are, all over the world.
He said, the number of patients designated as being in a “serious condition” remains on an upward trajectory and is increasingly straining medical facilities in the country.
The “Stop Tokyo Olympics” petition has been translated into, English, French and German, and has also been addressed to Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga.– NNN-NHK
