Organizers fear security staff shortage for Tokyo Olympics

Agree with other posters above, facial recognition is the thin end of the wedge and should not be allowed.

Yet keep in mind the mind set of the people of Japan. If you havent done anything wrong, then what's the problem?

Like I care. I couldn't even get a single ticket through the corrupt ticketing system.

Shogun36, the UK had to call in the military to help out at the 2012 Olympics due to the failure of the contracted security firm (ergo my comment above!) and surprise, surprise no one launched an attack.

Agree with other posters above, facial recognition is the thin end of the wedge and should not be allowed.

Just don’t use G4S!

I think Japanese security guards need training in manners.

I sometimes hear them barking out orders (in terrible broken English) or else giving the crossed-arms batsu or something.

It's rude and makes them look silly.

Yeah. I was sitting on a bench in the basement level entrance of an office building, waiting for my wife near the elevators, just eating a tiny cookie. (One of those ones made for babies. I love 'em.) This security guard comes from out of nowhere, gesturing at the cookie.

TIJ!

The 9000 volunteers can walk off if they want (heat, abuse by sports-goers, etc) without repercussions as they are not employed or contracted. I agree that they should be free to come and go as they please since they are not paid. The volunteers should not be counted toward the security personnel numbers.

I have seen them 'training' at a park near my house.Saluting,standing still and standing at ease.

Only one of them was remotely under 65 years old and he just looked like he had crawled from under a Tokyo bridge.

Someone on here said there are 550,000 registered security guards in Japan......that is about one in ever two-hundred Japanese people is one!

No wonder Japan's productivity rate sucks.

With less than a year to go until the start of the Tokyo Olympics, organizers fear they may not be able to recruit enough security staff and are looking to the Self-Defense Forces and sophisticated facial recognition systems for help.

Well, when are changes and actual actions going to happen? AFTER the olympics are done? Start raising pay, shortening work times and offer some kind of special health insurance to go along with it. Then maybe the numbers will go up.

As for using SDF, good job, now Japan will be prone to attack.......

I think Japanese security guards need training in manners.

I sometimes hear them barking out orders (in terrible broken English) or else giving the crossed-arms batsu or something.

It's rude and makes them look silly.

Strangerland, who said that Chinese people should be rejected ?

The CCP imprisons and kills Uighurs - terrible acts of violence.

You said people from nations that use violence should not be allowed.

There are a whole group of guys with tattoos and missing a few digits who could do the security work. Smartly dressed, disciplined, and it would not be the first time that they have helped the government.

Ah demography again.

8 jobs, 1 application.

This ratio is high high high.

Japan can require retired people to work for free or 14 to 16 boys and girls to help ? (...)

Gotta love the media. The preparations for the Tokyo 2020 are going well. The media is grasping for straws. First it was the weather, now it so call security staff shortage. What is next? Not enough food at the venues?

I read some time ago, that there were concerns over the use of water,

during the Olympic games season...

The most effective way to regulate the use of water is to ratchet up

the fees to use it.

Like "fuel surcharges" on the cost of flights, ( that never went back down when fuel stabilized )

who wants to guess if the cost of water will be raised, and not returned to previous rates?

Strangerland, who said that Chinese people should be rejected ? Chinese never supported the violence, Chinese govt never supported the violence, Chinese congress never supported the violence.

There are really so many people going to watch the Olympic performances, yes? I don't get it. It has really no appeal to me. You see them far better from home on TV. Why bothering enduring all that mess?

For the excitement of seeing it live.

There are really so many people going to watch the Olympic performances, yes? I don't get it. It has really no appeal to me. You see them far better from home on TV. Why bothering enduring all that mess?

The media is grasping for straws.

What else does media do? They have to justify their existence too!

Gotta love the media. The preparations for the Tokyo 2020 are going well. The media is grasping for straws. First it was the weather, now it so call security staff shortage. What is next? Not enough food at the venues?

The only attention this is giving, is playing right into Abe's administration of more pro military like the Imperial days. The military is gaining more and more control of the civilian sector yet no one is really paying attention. Already the Japan military is getting involved more and more like the old days. The pay is crappy for the event, bump up the salaries and they will get the bodies. No need for all this facial recognition and Japan military to get involved.

With the mercury topping 30 C, one sweltering guard complained, "It's tough to work in this heat when important officials visit in many cars."

The usual highs in Tokyo have been up to 35 degrees but any strong hot spell and the use of millions of air conditioners plus the hundreds of square kilometers of concrete can easily push the temperature higher and with high humidity, well....

I wish people would stop talking about or even suggesting this, it's a waste of time and energy. It wont be changed, there is too much riding on it now for it to happen.

Exactly

Folks is aint just security facing labour shortages, ALL aspects of these games are in that situation!

Same as the economy, the pay is CRAP so why on earth would anyone sign up!

Move this news forward with the goal of changing the Olympics to October when no one will die of heatstroke.

I wish people would stop talking about or even suggesting this, it's a waste of time and energy. It wont be changed, there is too much riding on it now for it to happen.

You can erase this idea from your mind. It will save you peace of mind.

It seems all organizers should help and join in the security business more positively if there is shortage of security staffs. It is better for them than doing nothing.

It's difficult to recruit people because the job offers relatively low pay despite perceptions that it involves a high level of risk and tough working conditions," an official of the association said.

This "official" has obviously never stood out in the summer heat for an hour or more, trying to stay alert to potential threats, while also dealing with often rude or completely dismissive civilians who the security guard is supposed to not only protect but act as venue guide, babysitter, complaint receiver and PERCIEVED general obstacle to the general public.

On another note, there may be several thousand underemployed former military trained gaijin in Japan that would be willing to move to Tokyo for the job if it involved room and board and free tickets to sport venues for their off shift enjoyment. (No, I'm not one of them, thank you. Currently self employed and mostly retired. Also, not a fan of crowds larger than 3 people).

Londons' Games total security force was 23,700. Tokyo's initial number is around 35,000. So lower your target number by 50% -- and problem solved

A very Japanese/Asian way to solve the problem.

So offer them more money and watch your shortage disappear. No one said that hosting the Games was going to be cheap.

Agreed.

Londons' Games total security force was 23,700. Tokyo's initial number is around 35,000. So lower your target number by 50% -- and problem solved.

It's difficult to recruit people because the job offers relatively low pay...

So offer them more money and watch your shortage disappear. No one said that hosting the Games was going to be cheap.

Japan citizens need to be very carefull with allowing thier authorities to use intrusive "Facial Recognition" technology for the Olympics. 

Sheepie believe in their authorities and will do anything that they are told, it will be shrugged of as shikata ga nai and sheepie will gaman

In the name of security.

You know what's important news? Next summer, that of 2020, at the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, people will die of heatstroke. Athletes, staff, volunteers, spectators, AND mom and pop sitting at home without the AC on. Move this news forward with the goal of changing the Olympics to October when no one will die of heatstroke.

This summer, 23,000 Japanese people were hospitalized for heatstroke and they weren't even exerting themselves. They probably weren't gathered within hordes of people either. Several died.

If the Olympics were to be held in July or August, do you think there will be enough ambulances to rush (and I use that word loosely) people to hospitals to be treated for heatstroke? Even if there are added ambulances for the Olympics, where does that leave mom and pop?

Push your government leaders to push Japan's leaders to move the Olympics to October.

reassured by our measures against the hot weather, including breathable and quick-drying uniforms," the official said.

This official should put on his breathable and quick drying uniform and stand out for an hour lets see. Staying even barebody doesn't help in the summer heat.

Japan citizens need to be very carefull with allowing thier authorities to use intrusive "Facial Recognition" technology for the Olympics. This technology is another "step" towards allowing "BIG BROTHER" to be able to intrude into your entire life and steal your personal privacy and your "human rights".

Earlier this year, English regulators shut down a trial that took place at the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester after three months over worries that “too many ordinary people” were being monitored.

Use of intrusive and discriminatory facial recognition by private companies is a disturbing expansion of mass surveillance that threatens our privacy and freedom of expression.

UK Human Rights Advocacy Group, Liberty

Governments will use any excuse such as the Olympics, to subtlety "introduce" this into Japanese society.

With the mercury topping 30 C, one sweltering guard complained, "It's tough to work in this heat when important officials visit in many cars."

So when "unimportant" people show up you slack off the job? It's hot no matter if it's a VIP or anyone else.

They should be rotating you in and out in a maximum of 60 minute shifts.

According to the All Japan Security Service Association, although there are around 550,000 trained security guards in Japan, at times the number of job openings is more than eight times that of applications, indicating a serious labor shortage.

"Trained?" Please give me a break, getting rather liberal with the use of the word "trained" here. THese companies ran them through a course on how to flick a lighted baton with their wrist.

Not to mention that this number alone suggests that there are more problems than need "security" in this land of peace and harmony!

More about keeping the cattle in line than actual security work!

Who wants to stand on hot concrete in temperatures of 40 degrees celsius for minimum pay?

How many of the trained security guards here are men well into retirement age?