Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'

Of course, ‘They’ would.

But we can all still wish the athletes stay healthy & safe now that they’re now here & doing their “best”.

Things are going so smoothly down near the sailing provision that the parking lots with all the special coded signs are empty. So are the restaurants.

Congrats

Tell all the foreign athletes isolated in quarantine here in Japan with Covid, who have lost their chance to compete after years of training and a further year of waiting for these Games, how smoothly its going.

These two really should stop talking.

So smooth, that COVID numbers are in the 4 digit range. Yes, way to go Suga and Koike.

What's the Japanese for "echo chamber"?

"More effective steps are necessary" to improve the situation, Koike said, adding that she exchanged views with Suga on "ways to prevent the coronavirus from spreading while resuming social activity."

So in the middle of a wave of increased cases thanks to a variant that is more likely transmitted they are already discussing elimination of the measures to stop the spreading?

sad, they're working directly off a USA script- nothing to see here folks everything is OK. thankfully many can look beyond and see the truth

Screw you guys. Summer is here, but just keep the kids at home and shut up. In think there has been obvious contemptful behavior towards the public. One example is backing up traffic for almost an hour in the Aqualine heading towards Tokyo, on purpose. The toll gate after the tunnel was not for ETC only, the other one was closed, and therefore causing a huge back-up for everyone. Whether you were going to Yokohama, Kawasaki or Tokyo, you would be backed-up by this obvious traffic-jamming tactic. Then they blocked off the Rainbow bridge periodically. Terrible treatment.

Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'

I agree. So far so good.

I agree too - so far so good. Entertaining too.

I don't agree with the no spectators decision, but I guess it was made based off of sound scientific evidence vice fear of super spreader events that could embarrass the government.

Japan may not hit its target of 50 gold medals, but it is already way over 50 coronavirus cases related to the "zero risk" Games.

My friend just contacted me on WhatsApp to ask if I was watching any of it. I replied in the negative. His comment - this is from someone who has expressed an interest in visiting Japan many times:

"It's a very sad event. It should be great, but this one clearly shouldn't be happening".

They should have held it in 2020 if no spectators whatsoever.

At leadr back then we didn’t have Covid variants, the cost to us wouldn’t have been doubled, and the athletes wouldn’t look this tired.

Next up :

"Suga, Koike declare Tokyo 2020 the best Olympics ever!"

Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'"

This title is directly contradicted just a few lines later

The capital reported 1,763 new COVID-19 cases, the most ever for a Sunday when less testing over the weekend usually leads to lower numbers, with the seven-day moving average jumping 36.1 percent from a week earlier."

and

The games organizing committee has reported 132 positive cases since the beginning of this month, including 13 athletes, 40 officials and 66 contractors, but excluding those announced by municipalities hosting pre-Olympic training camps in the country."

Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'

Everything fine, nothing to see.

Every day new cases of Covid in and around the "Bubble", including athletes.

The first heatstroked athlete on Friday. Most likely more to come...

Saw yesterday (or was it Saturday) that the opposition got their hands on an "unofficial" playbook with much less stringent rules in / around the bubble and were grilling the organizers...

Saw yesterday Marukawa (literally) running away with her entourage from a super-short press conference where only questions from "friendly" conservative newspapers were allowed, with the TV channel's reporter running after her. Reporter's comment: "I never experienced anything like that. Unbelievable."

The triathlon venue risking to change into a sewage pool.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/officials-confident-they-can-keep-swimmers-clear-sewage-2021-07-24/

I'm wondering about the government's / organizer's sense of urgency? If all of the above is fine, what exactly would be considered as "problematic"?

And it took them only an hour to come up with that……

Well, we expected a tsunami of propaganda but these claims seems desperately premature, given the third day has only just started and there's a virtual press blackout from the Athlete's Village.

As the fifth wave spirals out of control and new case numbers hit all-time highs in Tokyo we can only expect more of this fake self-congratulation. As Noam Chomsky said the other week, "We live in a world of total illusion and fantasy."

They're not being tested, so how would anyone know? According to this NHK (!) report, the Olympic Village is running out of tests:

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210724_04/

Was anybody naive enough to actually believe they would test all athletes every day?

1) Not all athletes stay at the village

2) It's not in their best interest to test, as any positive results reflect badly on the organizers.

The Olympics mean nothing to me but I am glad for Japan that they can get something out of it. The money, etc...

Kind of a messed up thing for Suga & Koike to say when so many of the non-elites are still waiting for vaccines and/or mired in economic stagnation (or worse).

As Noam Chomsky said the other week, "We live in a world of total illusion and fantasy."

We need to get that quote professionally translated it and adopt it as the unofficial motto of the games, the IOC, and the LDP.

@Leo

The Olympics mean nothing to me but I am glad for Japan that they can get something out of it. The money, etc...

Err...

To Japan as in: the government, the Tokyo government, the tax-payers, the official partner/sponsor companies, the Olympics are a money pit. Nobody is get anythings out of them, only paying the ever-increasing bills. Even NBC may have a rude awakening as the Olympic opening ceremony viewing figures were at a 33-year low...

The only financial winners: The International Olympic Committee and Dentsu.

The Olympic are also all about prestige. Not much hope there either, as Japan is coming off as bizarre in its infatuation with the Olympics, disorganized and widely undemocratic in face of a never-seen public backlash against the games. Not even mentioning all the problems that happened, are currently happening or will be happening on the way and where each time Japan ended/ends up in its underpants on what is essentially a world stage...

Prestige winners: none.

Like the Berlin 1936 Nazi Germany Olympics, the Tokyo Olympics will be conveniently "forgotten" by everybody as soon as the light goes out on the closing ceremony...What the Corona-virus has in store for us following the Olympics remains to be seen though...

I'm wondering about the government's / organizer's sense of urgency? If all of the above is fine, what exactly would be considered as "problematic"?

1) Anything with the potential to hurt the IOC's bottom line (which will be acted on instantly)

2) Anything with the potential to hurt the LDP at the next election (stifles incredulous snort).

There's an election in the autumn. This Olympics is Suga's only hope.

Just the ol' "country as a household" metaphor, but if we had gone 300% overbudget when building our house, it would have been a complete disaster. Anything more than 20% over is usually a red flag.

There's an election in the autumn. This Olympics is Suga's only hope. 

This would be true were there credible opposition, but we know that the LDP would be re-elected if they did a King Herod and decreed the execution of every male child in Japan under the age of 2.

And yet the Japanese people will vote for them in the next election…talk about being fools!

It is fun until Covid-19 cases explode all over the place.

Is smooth the new word for boring? Bring back the fans!

'very smoothly'

Which part? Corona quarantine or cash flow?

Suga, Koike are a great combo! This relation is very important as Koike will soon be PM. Applause to them for working so hard for the Olympics.

No Japanese will trust these 2. We believe corruption it involvded here.

Very Smoothly if you ignore the increase in COVID cases including those from abroad. So much for the promise of safe Olympics and the promise of shutting it down if COVID strikes. How nice it would be if the IOC gives a large chunk of its profits to Japan to assist in the effort in eradicating COVID-19.

They must be on another planet. Apparently, they haven't read the news.

The Games are going "very smoothly" for the virus, too. Only time will tell who "gets the gold". I fear the human cost might, in the end, trump all other potential gains from holding this international sporting event in the midst of a global pandemic.

Ah. The facade. Two delusional fools hoping to spin a disaster into gold.

Of course. Imagine if they had said the exact opposite. That they would say in the media something along the lines of "This Olympics is screwed up, everything is screwed up, nothing is going the way we planned during our long meetings, surveys,...".

After all, the local TV does not report much on the "less shiny" aspects, instead it focuses more on who won how many medals, how many athletes (but only foreign ones) got infected, etc.

The athletes beg to differ:

https://uk.yahoo.com/sports/news/japan-lied-about-the-weather-and-now-olympians-are-paying-the-price-010612634.html

Key sentence:

“With many days of mild and sunny weather, this period provides an ideal climate for athletes to perform their best.”

This quote comes from Japan’s official proposal to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Along with other lies like the Olympics is going to be for Fukushima.

Are you sure about "Smoothly?"

(From Yahoo Sports)

Japan's Olympic organizers lied about its weather, and now athletes are paying the price

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/japan-lied-about-the-weather-and-now-olympians-are-paying-the-price-010612634.html

That this government could put its own citizens’ lives in danger for the games sheds light on the assumed privilege of being Japanese.

Two politicians take advantage of Olympics to divert public eyes from their many misstep.

There's an election in the autumn. This Olympics is Suga's only hope. 

This would be true were there credible opposition, but we know that the LDP would be re-elected if they did a King Herod and decreed the execution of every male child in Japan under the age of 2.

Absolutely...yet , they call themselves a beacon of democracy in Asia...70 years of one party rule...democracy my ass , lol.

Both would struggle to agree politically if the lights on or off.

Both are hoping, relying upon a miracle, the pandemic won't bury them both under a statistical nightmare of a run away daily spread of Covid in and outside of the Olympic village.

Nothing will transpire until there is a fatality directly attributed to Covid contracted within the Olympic Village.

Statistically that is unlikely, dependent on the unvaccinated competitors.

Very smoothly indeed

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/japan-lied-about-the-weather-and-now-olympians-are-paying-the-price-010612634.html

Let’s just see what the situation looks like around Aug 10 or so shall we?

And what will they say when the infected start to die?

Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'

Japanese harmony at its best.

Literally a minute ago on the Dutch news about the poor circumstances the athletes in quarantine are in. No fresh air, no daylight. What a joke.

Stop untruth.

So far so good. I am really enjoying the games, which are filled with lots of joyous dramas. I did not expect games can be still so exciting without spectators.

ZENJIJ:

And what will they say when the infected start to die?

The data does not support changing of their decision for Olympic games. There is no reason why they have to stop the games based on Covid-19 related deaths.

Covid-19 related deaths are really down despite the infection surge. This may be due to two factors (1) the current strain of virus may be spreading fast but much less deadly and (2) the most vulnerable, older people, are largely vaccinated.

Tokyo Covid-19 Deaths (Per Day)

Jan 499 (16.1)

Feb 432 (15.4)

Mar 201 (6.5)

Apr 141 (4.7)

May 182 (5.9)

Jun 105 (3.5)

Jul (23 days) 23 (1.0)

Lets give them a round of applause and a bonus. Think not.

"Suga, Koike agree Olympics going 'very smoothly'" Just shows the world how out of touch they are from reality, these games are a disgrace to the host country citizens and the athletes, in fact, the only ones they benefit are the IOC and the pockets of the sponsors. Greed is a sad thing

"Smoothly."

Koike and Suda are living "in a world of total illusion and fantasy" to borrow from Chomsky. But this is being polite. They are more like dangerously delusional psychotics. Who in his or her right mind would hold a major athletic even in midst of a pandemic? And then to claim the spike in the pandemic has nothing to do with a massive social warp like the Olympics.

Wait until the Olympics are gone and the pandemic spike remains. It will be a long and painful hangover. Cry the beloved country.