Olympic torch relay to proceed as planned

Hmm perhaps Hidetaka Miyazaki should be directing the Olympics. Olympic Souls 1, Aso's Curse. Hurry light that fire and Kindle that flame!

That's so stupid. Just wait for the coming decision and then work form there. You can have your relay, just a year, or two, or perhaps four, away.

Why is it that once something had been "decided" here, the powers that be, just can't stop it?

JOC: put a stop to this nonsense. It's a joke already.

And what's up with allowing 50,000 people (most of whom didn't have masks on) to crowd around the Olympic Torch the other day?

Does that mean they will have the torch burning for a year with the postponement of the games?

I will show the world that Fukushima's fishermen are working hard

The world does not care even a second if you are working hard or not, so just relax.

It was only a fool who thought and believed that this games could happen as planned.

Is Abe leaving office this September? It hurts him so bad that he may not be in charge if and when the games happen. He wanted this to be his only legacy for his long reign.

For the love of sanity, stop this now.

Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike said: "The IOC clearly stated that cancellation will not happen, and I am glad to share that view. There are lots of issues, but I would like to discuss possible scenarios over the next four weeks with the IOC and the organizing committee."

stupid is as stupid does.

"The Tokyo Games now have another goal, to defeat the novel coronavirus," she said.

OH MY GOD!!!!!! YOU IDIOT! the Tokyo Games will do the EXACT opposite, which is to empower the virus and allow it to spread even more!! What kind of INSANE manner of thinking is THIS?? And she's the gov of Tokyo! OMG!! You defeat the virus with social distancing and avoiding large crowds, NOT by holding the olympics where tons of people gather. MUPPET!

A lot of athletes and Olympic Committees in many countries have already and strongly expressed their opposition to the Olympics being held this summer. So how the hell does allowing the Olympic torch relay to precede make any sense? It must be delayed until a final decision is taken.

I mean can someone reasonable tell to the Japanese that denying the reality of a situation until the very last moment is not a good strategy and that sometimes decisions should be taken before things get totally ridiculous?

Madness. Waste of time, and if crowds are involved a good way to spread the deadly virus.

Will they stage another one for Tokyo-Sapporo 2021?

Everyone around the world is not considering this event , why is mori so insistant on having it ???. What is it going to cost him personally ???. Does mori have no feelings of responsibility ???.to all japanese ???.

Put the flame at the top of the Sky Tree for the duration, so everyone can see it from afar.

Everyone around the world is not considering this event , why is mori so insistant on having it ???. What is it going to cost him personally ???. Does mori have no feelings of responsibility ???.to all japanese ???.

None at all. He's a typical rich boy LDPer, though even dumber than most. They see working Japanese people as livestock, there to support their lifestyles of luxury and power. They feel no more responsibility toward the people than a poultry farmer feels toward a chicken.

Countries will pull out one by one

I see that Mori still isn’t self isolating or wearing a mask.

The picture suggests this was a press conference of some kind - did any journalists ask Mori as to why he was still openly mixing with people and not wearing a mask after being directly exposed to someone who was confirmed to have contracted the virus? Was he tested and found to be negative?

Surely one journalist somewhere has asked this question, right?

Like it or not, Japan is going to either postpone them, or hold the first ever Olympics that only the host country participated in!

In the middle of a pandemic, Mori with underlying chronic health finds it difficult to wear a mask?

No wonder Japanese do not believe their politicians...

Mori, still walking around after being exposed.

This picture of mori says alot abt his involvent in the funding of the olympics, if the olympics comitte goes on with mori's plan in 2020, despite of protests from participants countries, we know it is not abt human beings. It is abt money of personal interests. Lets see. But this picture is worth a billion words.

Of course, given what is currently known about Covid-19, there is no guarantee that even were the Olympics postponed until 2021 (and hopefully to a more clement time of year) that there will not be a 2nd or even 3rd re-emergence of the affliction in the months and weeks preceding any rescheduled event.

As things stand at the moment, might a better strategy be to say the Olympics are but the most prominent of a whole "genre" of supposedly global events, sporting or otherwise - that are now outdated and dysfunctional - and which should be ended, forthwith. Sorry Japan.

For a starter, the whole idea that "national" teams compete in sporting events is outmoded. There could be all manner of other taxonomies - e.g. teams based on age (with agreed handicaps, if necessary, for those younger or older than a median). There could be many other discriminators.

On another point - how shortsighted of the Japanese authorities to focus the now pathetic-appearing Olympic flame event primarily on FUKUSHIMA.

The event 9 years ago overwhelmingly impacted on coastal areas of Miyagi and Iwate - and that event was - a virtually unprecedented earthquake but mainly tsunami that killed ~20,000 and totally devasted the local economies. Fukushima prefecture was less affected - not that I do not grieve for the local economies there which WERE undoubtedly negatively impacted by the misinformed publicity that followed the minor incident at the nuclear power plant.

Yoshiro Mori must have just come back from his 3 x week dialysis, looking at the bandage on his wrist/ lower arm. Is he really fit and well enough to be in charge of the transition of the 2020/ 2021 Olympics?

wanderlust: "Is he really fit and well enough to be in charge of the transition of the 2020/ 2021 Olympics?"

Maybe that's part of the point -- perhaps he knows he won't be around for any delay. He needs the money NOW.

I want a "Take 2" for the torch relay, from Greece. It's disappointing that cancellation or down-scaling have appeared in the scenes.

Let me check I have this right.

Mori was exposed last week?

He was denied a test?

And he is still allowed to flounder about, shouting his spittle-flecked pipe dreams to anyone who has the misfortune to be near him?

This is madness.

Just saw old Mori on TV. Lookin' good 'n healthy! He's been like exposed for what, 3 days so far? Not tested yet. Means we don't know if asymptomatic or not. We will find out between now and and around 28 days time. In the meantime he's just waking around, potentially infecting hundreds if not thousands of people.

See the value of testing?

They should really modernize the torch using Japanese LED technology so that inclement weather won't kill the flame of the torch. They can even add the 3d projection technology to mimic the animation of the flame. Besides, I'm pretty sure carrying the Olympics torch indoor violates number of regulations and laws.

The picture speaks a thousand words. A country run by old men with dyed hair who can’t remember what they had for breakfast!