People walk past an Tokyo Olympics logo in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: AP/Shuji Kajiyama
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Hashimoto says Olympic organizers have to tighten anti-virus measures

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End the farce. Only a handful of greedy people want the pandemic games anyway.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Blah, blah, blah! Too much talk with little action.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Go straight to the tightest measure and cancel.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why is the Ugandan Team in Osaka? Why did they arrive in June? Why weren't they quarantined at the airport? Why, why, why?

Countries that are banned from entering Japan

Some members of the GB Olympic Team are refusing to be vaccinated, apparently this dictum by the Japanese Government will not be enforced:  Travelers who arrive without proper documentation of a negative COVID-19 test will be denied entry to Japan.

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Countries/Regions subject to denial of permission to enter Japan:

Asia

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste

North America

Canada, United States of America

Latin America and the Caribbean

Argentine, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela

Europe

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyz, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Vatican

Middle East

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

Africa

Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central Africa, Comoros, Cote d’lvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“the Canadian basketball player that is upset she cannot bring her 3 month old baby to Japan, etc.”

wow, I hadn’t heard of this. Millennials. What can you say? Not the sharpest tools.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

All of these assurances that the games can be held safely are clearly not true. The games have not even started and infections are already a problem with arriving athletes. If mitigation planning is so thorough, why are we seeing cracks in the system so early? The fact is, the games cannot be made safe because the Olympics is by definition a “super-spreader” event, even among the athletes. And this can lead to new variants seeping into the general population and spreading to other countries as athletes return home.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I’ve seen the amateur-ish way Japanese run sporting events. They basically run everything like it’s high school sports day.

That is because most events are run by former Athletes a few may have gotten some place in sports but most are failed pro or has-beens.

Their entry lives are about sports not the best educated, rarely in any scientific discipline and think that sporting achievements are as important as medical discoveries, scientific advancements, etc...

Just look at how some see the Olympics, they use words like, "great achievement", "important for morale or lifting spirits", etc... They talk about how hard these "Athletes" worked to get to the Olympics and depriving them of the chance is unfair.

They equate people dying, losing loved ones, being sick, vulnerable, hospitalised, with not being able to compete in a sporting event.

Athletes I am sorry to say are not the most educated around all we need to show that is the members of the UK team that will not get vaccinated and complaining about no family permitted to come here, the Canadian basketball player that is upset she cannot bring her 3 month old baby to Japan, etc.

Who is their right mind would subject a 3 month old to a 14 hour flight and bring a baby into an place with low vaccination and tens of thousands of people from around the world from places with high infection rates, etc.. and think that is a good idea.

We are not talking about geniusses.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

What a big circus run by clowns! I hope the IOC elite will get the full blame if anything serious happens.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Absolute numbskulls.

this happening was to be predicted and there’s no way to be 100% safe, nor ensure that the athletes are isolated from the public.

canceling would work though…

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Falseflag are you not paying attention? The ugandan who was allowed to go from Narita to Osaka by bus with other people on board had the Delta variant. Does that sound like a good idea to you?

that never would have happened in a country that was on top of things. I generally agree with your positive attitude but the idea that the Japanese organizers are on top of this is pure fantasy. I’ve seen the amateur-ish way Japanese run sporting events. They basically run everything like it’s high school sports day. Believe me, they are way in over their heads on this. They should have hired an international security firm to help but of course want to do everything on their own. This will not end well.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Pro Olympics:

"The measures worked"

Reality:

One person stopped and isolated.

The rest of the team put on bus with driver, 3 city officials and the other 80 or so passengers sent on their way.

Few days later more team members turn up positive, city officials, and bus driver informed after they have already been in contact with their families, other members of the public and no information on what is being done about the other 80 passengers that got off the same flight.

If that is the safety procedures "WORKING" I would hate to see what the pro Olympics call a failure!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

This is fear mongering by people who don’t understand the science.

So, were the medical professionals and medical authorities who have called for the Games to be postponed ‘fear mongers’ and ‘people who don’t understand the science’?

Do you understand the science? Do you?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

So we are being assured that the games are/will be safe by the IOC and TOC, lead by a former Skater, A fencer/lawyer, Swimmer/lawyer and a rower/lawyer.

On the other hand we have 3 of the prominent medical journals, 2 Japanese doctors associations, the Japanese nurses association, and hundreds of medical and scientific expert from around the world saying the IOC plan is unworkable, unsafe, unrealistic.

Let's see who should we believe, the former athletes/lawyer or the medical/scientific community?

I generally don't trust anything a lawyer says and i my experience most long term athletes are not educated in advanced science because that needs a lots of studying and sport interferes with studies.

So I go with the medical/scientific community.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Team GB expects some of the British entourage to get infected. If you read the article, it is clear he doesnt care, and protecting the people of Japan doesnt even come into it. 

This is to be expected, same as the Canadian basketball player and her baby thing, same as Hashimoto, Bach, Coates, Pound, etc...

These people didn't make it where they are by being educated it science, that means seriously using ones brain.

The are Athletes, most in the end are the "Glory days" people that will keep going on about when they were in sports but most end up nowhere in the end.

Asking these or any of the sports leadership to understand actual science especially a vaccine or virus is like teaching a cat to walk with a leash, it is possible but rarely successful and takes a long long long time.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The comedy Olympics proceeds full on !

1 ( +3 / -2 )

You’re tenacious @ffs 12:38pm but many here can’t understand how you’re still giving “full [100%?] support” at this point.

*- “*they have my full support.” -

Let’s face it. Hashimoto has never really been ‘the leader’. She has no real experience with crisis. She’s just a political pawn to appease the insulted and the outraged. She’s a powerless ‘mouthpiece’ for a ‘losing game that’s already been in play’ before she ‘took to the field’.

*- “Those running the games are the experts who know the dangers and measures in place,“ -*

Experts”?? - Both of other “foot-in-mouth” buffoons, Mori & Sakurada resigned before her.

There have never been any concrete plans or contingencies made for emergencies. Their only ‘plans’ were to see the Games proceed and the profits from it:

- “Hashimoto said at a press conference that the measures are not necessarily "100 percent" effective.” -

There! SHE admits it. It’s not safe. Can’t you picture Hashimoto the last “pilot of the African Queen at the top of the falls”?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Just as an example, the head of Team GB expects some of the British entourage to get infected. If you read the article, it is clear he doesnt care, and protecting the people of Japan doesnt even come into it. He even says they ‘pushed back’ when told family and friends cant come too. For the incomers, Japan is nothing more than a backdrop. So Team GB is 1000 people all told. Now think of the other 205 teams, most with a similar mindset. Just WTF?Article at

https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/57604425

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Measures worked just as they were supposed to.

Tell that to the 3 city officials and bus driver that were in close contact with the Ugandan team then returned home to their families and work places.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Measures worked just as they were supposed to.

Big question is, do the vaccines not work as they are supposed to?

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

We have been assured the games will be safe and measures are in place to ensure that.

and

Those running the games are the experts who know the dangers and measures in place, they have my full support.

Doesn’t these claims run counter to the actual article?

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing body said Friday it has to "tighten" its anti-COVID-19 measures…

We’ve been told by the poster above that the Games will be 100% safe and secure, but now the president of the Tokyo Olympics says the measures need to be tightened.

If ‘tightening’ is needed, then the Games are currently NOT 100% safe and secure and they are not likely to be in the state by the official starting date.

To sum up, continually repeating this “100% safe and secure Games” mantra just seems to be hoping against hope.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

To ensure the safety of the games, athletes will be kept in a "bubble" environment, such as preventing them from coming into close contact with ordinary citizens in the country and requiring them to be screened for the virus daily in principle.

How is that even possible to keep the athletes in a bubble? They won't be allowed to go to convenient stores, restaurants to eat, or a little sightseeing during their several week stay?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I can’t see any issues with the Ugandans here. The procedures were implement to detect Covid and it was. We have been assured the games will be safe and measures are in place to ensure that. The elderly who are almost the only ones at risk from the virus will be vaccinated and have less chance of serious issues from Covid.

Those running the games are the experts who know the dangers and measures in place, they have my full support.

-13 ( +2 / -15 )

What she is saying is not her response to the Ugandan team fiasco, but to the Emperor.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Serious question.

Are the Japanese athletes participating in the Olympics being tested daily for COVID now or will they start being tested closer to the start date?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

@gogogo

Read the article, it clearly says Delta!

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Wait the pro Olympics people told us that the IOC and JOC new better and their"playbook" was going to be perfectly safe bubble!

The Lancet, New England journal of medicine and The BJM all said the "playbook" was seriously flawed

But the pro Olympics people said the IOC and JOC new more and better.

But here we are and one of the exact scenarios all 3 publications warned about is unfolding.

So simple logic tells us to go with what the real experts that compiled and wrote in the 3 publications say.

Basically holding the Olympics is not safe, not wise and The IOC and JOC plans are unreliable and unworkable.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Before Covid I had an inkling Japan was way behind the West in so many ways, digitization, national security, gender equality. The Olympics and Covid have just brought home how hopelessly out of step they are with the rest of the world. The irony is they wanted to use the Olympics to show the world how advanced they were and it has completely blown up in their faces. Despite all their rules they can’t even accept 10 Ugandans without things going pear shaped. Well, maybe this will be a wake up call.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Why are the Japanese so naive about Covid? Every night on tv I see these tarento laughing their heads off about Corona and wakkuchin. It is not a laughing matter. I think reality is about to hit Japan and it won’t be funny.

Wait, are you telling me comedians are laughing about something? Who woulda guessed!

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Tested positive... What strain are they talking about? Delta is much more contagious and more to worry about.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Hashimoto was hired specifically because she cares for nothing else except the games. They are the centerpiece of her life. She cares nothing at all for the risks posed to our families; she is nothing more than a wind up robot let loose as evidenced by her vapid responses.

Australia and Uganda were the very first baby steps of their measures, and the failure rate of their preperations is 50%....at the very first step!

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Tighten anti-virus measures - bars and restaurants close at 18:30! Or even at 18:00.

In the meantime, some members of the UK Olympic team are now refusing vaccination.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

They could always cancel. That would tighten things. But nope, gotta make that money!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Why are the Japanese so naive about Covid? Every night on tv I see these tarento laughing their heads off about Corona and wakkuchin. It is not a laughing matter. I think reality is about to hit Japan and it won’t be funny.

We do not watch the same programs.

everyday on the TV news, I see pessimistic and fearmongering reports about covid in Japan, always on the negative side, like if it was the end of the world. Cases in Japan are low but main media make it as if it was really bad.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

100% must be vaccinated to enter Japan.

That also doesn’t have so much meaning. Regarding vaccines like AstraZeneca and variants like Delta you will have results of approximately 25% safe, 50% insufficiently vaccinated and 25% like not vaccinated at all, although all have received jabs. Forget that quickly, the only possibility to stay safe and save lives is to cancel the games and to close the borders NOW.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I have been in the village a few times I have been in lots of rooms for work & living they are all being stacked like cordwood in there!!

I have seen the recycled cardboard beds, these are just recycled cardboard into cardboard, I imagine a lot of people stuck in the village are NOT going to be impressed!!

Thankfully I have been there while its still a ghost town, I dread it if I get credentials to access these places during the fiasco while WITHOUT being vaccinated, it is scary!

4 ( +7 / -3 )

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing body said Friday it has to "tighten" its anti-COVID-19 measures

In other words, yet another thing the JOC is incapable of doing?

why don’t we make this easier…..what CAN they do well?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

AS I SAID BEFORE:

Only vaccinated participants, attendees etc ghouls arrive in Japan. This is just a tip of the iceberg!

100% must be vaccinated to enter Japan.

Nothing wrong with that request.

I have been to B&B and restaurant who accept only vaccinated people with proof.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

To ensure the safety of the games, athletes will be kept in a "bubble" environment

Quite a big “bubble”, for the first small team alone it already reaches from Tokyo to Osaka. lol

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Asiaman, you don’t even get sarcasm.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

The JOC just added MORE board members to the their roster!!

Local media reported that the JOC approved 30 new board members on Friday”

How much more are they allowed to over bloat this circus??

4 ( +6 / -2 )

“Have to tighten measures” yet, NOT their expanded budgets when the Games are almost over?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

After arriving in the Osaka city of Izumisano, local health authorities determined that the entire Uganda team, as well as eight people, including city officials and bus drivers, had been in close contact with the two infected individuals.

Wow, they figured that out so fast! /s

Anyone with half a brain would’ve immediately known that the whole team (and anyone else close to them on the plane) were close contacts of the person who first tested positive. It blows my mind that they just sent the rest by bus the whole way to Osaka, allowing them to mix with three Osaka officials and likely others as well.

It’s like Japan never gained the knowledge about how Covid spreads that the rest of the world has found out over the past year. They’re acting ridiculously ignorant.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Tokyo-EngrToday  08:29 am JST

The Japanese Government and JOC are in bed with the IOC on this.

True that!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

"daily tests, in principle", "measures not necessarily 100% effective" but "safe and secure Games".

Still amazed that she can come and say that without blinking. And without the press in general and the publisher of this article to underline the hypocrisy.

Oh, well, they put "safe and secure" in between quotation marks, I guess that's as far as they'll go.

Anyway, where's Coates hiding? Still in quarantine?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

@Asiaman. Fully agree with your post. The Japanese are not naive about this. The Japanese Government and JOC are in bed with the IOC on this.

12 ( +15 / -3 )

stickman1760Today  08:00 am JST

Why are the Japanese so naive about Covid?

Oh, the naivete of the Japanese! 100% mask usage. 62% supporting Olympic cancellation or postponement (June 19/20 Asahi survey). So carelessly naive! (Eye roll)

-5 ( +7 / -12 )

Print a new playbook?

I’ve been continually assured that everything was being done to ensure a safe games.

Must have been untrue.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing body said Friday it has to "tighten" its anti-COVID-19 measures after two of the nine-member Ugandan delegation tested positive for the disease following their arrival in Japan.

You the boss, do something! Or are you just a figurehead and Mori is stilling pulling the strings?

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Why are the Japanese so naive about Covid? Every night on tv I see these tarento laughing their heads off about Corona and wakkuchin. It is not a laughing matter. I think reality is about to hit Japan and it won’t be funny.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

can’t the Japanese see they are being played for laughs by the IOC? I honestly don’t think there is another country on earth that would fall for this.

To be fair, the Japanese have been played for fools by successive LDP governments, Tokyo governors, Keidanren, the JOC and every single major corporate media group in the country, for the last 15 years.

The corporate media in Japan are all official partners of the Games, hence the (largely) toothless response of the media to this horrorshow.

https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/436761

The Tokyo Olympics contract signed by then-Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose in 2013 is same as signed by London, Rio, Paris and all the rest.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

You’re ‘over the fence’ on our side now @Monty 7:22am:

“I have an idea how to tighten the Olympic Anti Virus Measures... Cancel it! “

again.

“anyway, I guess it is too late to cancel, so the only thing I can do for myself is to continue with my life, do my best personal prevention, and wait till the Olympics is over. 

You have our respect and upvotes again,

“I will get my 2 shots of Moderna beginning and end of July via my company, but for the Olympics a little bit too late.” -

and then those “sweet corporate perks and international travel” can resume. Like many here, Your personal sacrifices of the last 2 years will eventually pay off.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Seems like the multiple promises of a safe and secure games was a lie…gasp. And us “fear mongers” were correct to believe publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet when they called the COVID mitigation measures outlined in the so called playbooks as inadequate.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

The fact that the Ugandan bus was allowed to leave Narita and travel so far is not a problem with the IOC.

As much as I dislike the IOC the allowance for them to continue to travel is fully a Japanese internal problem and Hashomoto bears some, if not all of the responsibility for this terribly irresponsible choice.

All close contacts should have been immediately quarantined at Narita.

20 ( +22 / -2 )

The so-called bubble these folks are always talking about is Japan, just like the Diamond Princess. It should be called a petri dish.

17 ( +19 / -2 )

How long will it take to make the games safe? Ya don't have too much time left.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

What a mess. All they need to do is follow the scientific and medical advice. Even once someone is vaccinated, it takes several week to develop a higher level of immunity, and the tests are not always accurate.

I just came to Canada, where there are strict protocols. First tested before flying, Then tested after landing, at the airport. Then 3 days in a designated hotel, where I could only leave the room for 15 minutes of fresh air. After, transferred by private vehicle to a safe place of isolation to quarantine for 14 days. During this time, I had to check in with an app every day to report my condition. A government agent showed up at my door to make sure I was there and not sick. I was also phoned by a local government agency. I had to take another test on day 8. And finally after 14 days was cleared to move around.

In Japan, Uganda team members arrive with an infected athlete, they send him or her home and just let the rest into the country without proper testing and procedures. Of course if one member was infected there was a high chance others would be.

It's easy to guess what will happen when thousands of people arrive from many places with high infection rate. We can already see the next wave rolling in.

23 ( +26 / -3 )

can’t the Japanese see they are being played for laughs by the IOC? I honestly don’t think there is another country on earth that would fall for this.

22 ( +25 / -3 )

I have an idea how to tighten the Olympic Anti Virus Measures...

Cancel it!

Best anti virus measures you can get for the Olympics.

But anyway, I guess it is too late to cancel, so the only thing I can do for myself is to continue with my life, do my best personal prevention, and wait till the Olympics is over.

I will get my 2 shots of Moderna beginning and end of July via my company, but for the Olympics a little bit too late.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

There are host towns all over Japan getting ready to host dozens of teams. They are all going to travel from Narita, or whatever airport they land at, and then travel cross country all over this land. This is another headache they're going to have to deal with, not only in Tokyo around the comp and living sites.

19 ( +22 / -3 )

Hashimoto said at a press conference that the measures are not necessarily "100 percent" effective.

There’s a ringing endorsement to inspire confidence.

we would like to welcome athletes from around the world with full passion," Hashimoto said.

Bet that sounded less cringeworthy in Japanese.

14 ( +17 / -3 )

Nothing more than hot air.

24 ( +26 / -2 )

But they never tightened their belts! The coffers remained open for the IOCLDPJOC and corporate sponsors to continue to profit at every opportunity.

25 ( +29 / -4 )

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