SoftBank CEO again slams Olympics

My full support for Mr Son

Carry on my wayward Son!

Some may try to criticize Son for “trying to get on the public’s good side” with his public declarations, but he’s got the pulpit to state loudly what a majority of the Japanese people are feeling. If more industry leaders and others do the same, it may have more sway with the politicians who will ultimately decide the fate of the Olympics.

"The athletes definitely can make their Olympic dreams come true." What kind of rational is this. Oh and these healthy athletes will be bumped to the front of the line to get the vaccines that the rest of us have to wait for. These athletes feel conflicted, oh so I have heard. If they really feel conflicted, speak up and say that the games should be postponed or cancelled. Do the right thing and stop trying to seem sincere when we know better.

Then pull Soft Bank as a sponsor of the Olympics. Same with Mikitani of Rakuten or any others who are thinking the same. Let your money do the talking because Bach and Coates don't care what you say or what the polls say. They will only listen to money.

We need clear headed thinking and leadership like this in the government and IOC.

I sincerely hope the voters make the LDP pay at the ballot box if they host the Olympics.

Now if top Japanese athletes like Naomi Osaka and Matsuyama pull out, then it will put a lot of pressure on J-Gov.

Then if there are more on-ground protests and boycott of sponsors then IOC will take notice.

IOC bosses are very thick skinned. All these things need to happen to pressurise them to make the right call and cancel it.

Said ‘Daedalus to Icarus’? @kohakuebisu 4:24pm:

- “Carry on my wayward Son...” -

or, Kerry Livgren to Don Kirshner, Kansas 1976?

You’re right. Those are words to ‘inspire hope’ in this trying time:

- “...There'll be peace when you are done/Lay your weary head to rest/Don't you cry no more”

Cancel these stupid Games!

Good man. I'm switching from Docomo.

Expecting the IOC to care about Japan when their paycheque depends on them not to, or some LDP political cost on a party that never loses have long past the cliff of no return. They are just too far gone, and have been for over a year now. They were forced last time and will need to be again.

Protests would have more effect if they were directed to USA Canada Australia UK etc to pull out of the games.

"We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible,"-Bach.

Again it's an incredible thing to just come out and say. Comments like this statement get deleted of message boards.

'We'?? He certainly isn't including himself.

I know he means 'sacrifices' in the sense of limiting movement and heavy restriction on competitors, but I don't believe Japan (or anyone) is capable of doing the job on the scale of this event. The only sacrifices the general public in Japan will be making are the risks of sickness and possible death. Not to mention the massive tax hikes that will follow all this.

Just to hold a Sports Day!...No thanks Bach. I'd rather not.

Matsuyama’s thinking “it’s not right” @Tan 4:43pm. He’s all about the greater good for the whole country: 

“The situation in Japan is not good. If we think about health care workers, it should probably be canceled," Hideki Matsuyama said.” -

Kei Nishikori openly questions Japan:

“I don’t know what they are thinking and how they are going to make a bubble, because this is not 100 people like these tournaments, It’s 10,000 people in the village. Well, not even (just) Japan. You have to think all over the world right now.” -

Naomi Osaka’s 5/15 quote:

“If you’re going into the Olympics and whatever, make the host country happy.” -

‘For right now’. Osaka’s NOT thinking about anyone but herself.

@dbsaiya

Then pull Soft Bank as a sponsor of the Olympics

I don't see Soft Bank listed as an official sponsor of the Olympics. NTT Docomo is a sponsor, though.

 public protests have been limited

I mean, when have Japan ever protested? It has always been limited. If anything, Japan is the most politically stable country in the world.

Even if most people do not like the government policy on the Olympics, the vast majority still believe the current politicians and their families as the the sole legitimate rulers. You may see polls saying support rate of 31% for Suga, but when it comes voting time, the vast majority will continue to vote for their current politician or someone from the same family. So there's zero pressure on the government to care about what the people think, since they have their guaranteed votes

Bach -

"We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible," he added.

No, YOU and your filthy, rotten and corrupt organization - the olympics - need to make sacrifices to enable this pandemic to be fought. At least the very least, shifting it to another year.

Disgraced politicians Bach, Coe, Coates and all their sick supporters who are pushing for the olympics to proceed, are despicable and selfish individuals.

Cancel this disgusting olympic trainwreck NOW.

Who and on what authority is it being forced through?

I am quite sure, someone like him can very well answer such an answer by himself. lol

@dbsaya

Then pull Soft Bank as a sponsor of the Olympics. Same with Mikitani of Rakuten or any others who are thinking the same. Let your money do the talking because Bach and Coates don't care what you say or what the polls say. They will only listen to money.

I would fully agree with what you say however I think there are a couple of items to consider. As another poster said I did not think Softbank sponsors. Also I believe Rakuten has already paid a significant amount which makes his statement much more sincere and more powerful actually.

Full list of sponsors from Wikipedia.

1st one to pull out is a national hero! A once in a lifetime opportunity for one lucky company to get the nations full support.

Worldwide Olympic Partners

Airbnb

• Alibaba Group • Atos • Bridgestone • The Coca-Cola Company • Dow Inc. • General Electric • Intel • Omega SA • Panasonic • Procter & Gamble • Samsung Electronics • Toyota • Visa Inc.

Golden Partners

• Asahi Group Holdings[14]

• ASICS[15] • Canon Inc.[16] • ENEOS Holdings[17] • Fujitsu[18] • Lixil Group[19] • Meiji Holdings[20] • Mitsui Fudosan[21] • Mizuho Financial Group[22] • NEC Corporation[23] • Nippon Life[24] • NTT Corporation (NTT Docomo)[25] • Nomura Holdings[26] • Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group[22] • Tokio Marine[27]

Official Partners

• Airweave[28]

• Ajinomoto[29] • All Nippon Airways[30] • ALSOK[31] • The Asahi Shimbun[32] • Cisco Systems[33] • Dai Nippon Printing[34] • Daiwa House[35] • Earth Corporation[36] • EF Education First[35] • Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical[37] • Japan Airlines[30] • Japan Airport Terminal[38] • Japan Post Holdings[39] • JTB Corporation[40] • JR East[41] • Kikkoman[42] • KT-CT Holdings[40] • Mainichi Shimbun[32] • Mitsubishi Electric[43] • Narita International Airport Corporation[38] • The Nikkei[32] • Nissin Foods[44] • Recruit Holdings[45] • Sankei Shimbun[32][46] • Secom[31] • Tobu Top Tours[40] • Tokyo Gas[47] • Tokyo Metro[41] • Toppan[34] • Toto Ltd.[48] • Yamato Holdings[49] • Yomiuri Shimbun[32]

Official Sponsors and Suppliers

• Aggreko[50]

• Alphabet Inc. (Google Japan G.K.)[51] • AOKI Holdings[52] • Boston Consulting Group[53] • ECC[54] • Ernst & Young[55] • Hokkaido Shimbun[46] • Kadokawa Corporation (Kadokawa Future Publishing)[56] • Kokuyo[57] • Marudai Foods[58] • Morisawa Inc.[59] • Nomura Kōgei[60] • Park24[61] • Pasona[62] • Shimizu Corporation[63] • Tanaka Holdings[64] • Technogym[65] • Tokyo Skytree[66] • Z Holdings (Yahoo! Japan)[67

"The athletes definitely can make their Olympic dreams come true," Bach said....

"We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible," he added.

Yes, who is this we you speak of?

And is this sacrifice 'we' have to make, seeing our Olympic nightmares come true? You know, like people dying at home because hospitals can't (won't) take any more patients? Or maybe long term health disability, possibly for the rest of our lives? Long Covid is estimated to affect one in seven of those who get Covid.

I didn’t know about the penalty for canceling the Game, I don’t know well about that, but do Japan have to pay penalty? I don’t think it’s fair because no one should be blamed for this pandemic thing.

Mr Son is getting tiresome. He is not an elected official or from the IOC so why should his opinion be greater than anyone else’s?

It is becoming clear that it’s Japan’s business leaders who wear the proverbial trousers in the business / government relationship.

The damage his vision fund has inflicted on people with Uber, Oyo, WeWork, Automation Anywhere renders his opinion almost worthless.

Even a Korean Japanese CEO knows what's wrong. When will Japanese ultranationalists understand?

"Currently more than 80% of people want the Olympics to be postponed or canceled. Who and on what authority is it being forced through?"

My enemy's enemy is my friend. You won't see any of the paid up sponsors saying this. SoftBank however is a repugnant organisation.

What caused Son’s sudden concern about holding the Olympics? I hope the business tycoon is genuinely worried about the pandemic and not thinking of a new kind of money-making.

Mr Son is getting tiresome. He is not an elected official or from the IOC so why should his opinion be greater than anyone else’s?

Let's play spot the sycophant.

Cool guy.

"We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible,"

Oh hell no we don’t.

Does Mr Son have some hidden agenda or not IMHO I could not care less at this moment. He has means and channels to relay the wishes of 80% of the Japanese people to masses and he should be applauded for that. Regarding the athletes, I can see why some younger ones are not speaking against Olympics because of possible backlash. However, why older athletes who will retire after Tokyo Olympics are not speaking against is another story. It is difficult to put myself into their boots, but if I had this mind And if I were to complete I would just boycott it.

Teachers: You can't hear written words.

kohakuebisu: Carry on my wayward Son!

zichiToday 06:33 pm JST

If you live in Japan it would be impossible not to use or buy from most of the sponsors. I count four or five I need daily.

It is possible. But people don't have to be 'all or nothing' about activism. That's just an excuse that people use to call 'hypocrite' when they take exception to people making choices. If there are essential services you are tied to, so be it.

You can still make choices about other things if you are inclined to do so. We made changes where we could. It's a personal choice.

@Starbucks

You are getting many down votes because people are mistaking your quotes from others as something you are saying.

Use the quotation option or put quotation marks when pointing out something someone else wrote

Not only will this Olympic be a disaster. They will have major logistics problems.

Now someone just has to address these very real concerns.... someone, anyone? The big guns are out.

Some may try to criticize Son for “trying to get on the public’s good side” with his public declarations, but he’s got the pulpit to state loudly what a majority of the Japanese people are feeling. 

How does doing what the majority think/do/feel take any balls at all? That is the typical Japanese way.

If you want to talk about balls, have a look at Satoshi Ishii, the Judo gold medalist who put that tennis player Nishikori in his place. I bet you won't read about that in the censored news, though.

By the way, that same majority are out and about like normal despite the SOE, so they are hypocrites at best.

There is also a strong feeling that the gaijin IOC are forcing the gaijin athletes/staff into Japan. I'm surprised JT readers who are usually sensitive about this kind of thing haven't picked up on this anti-gaijin sentiment yet.

"We have to make some sacrifices to make this possible," he added.

How about you taking the initiative and sacrifice the sponsorship and broadcasting rights

money.

How about you taking the initiative and sacrifice the sponsorship and broadcasting rights

money.

SoftBank isn't a sponsor. YAHOO Japan/Z Holdings is sort of and Son does not hold controling interest.

I guess he could pressure but that is about all he can do.

zichiToday 09:30 pm JST

spinningplates

How many did you stop using?

Hey there, we changed who we bank with, and our gas supplier, and have changed quite a few of our weekly shopping choices. In the future there are brands we will be avoiding. I'm angry as hell, and my wife is motivated because of a forced hiatus from work due to the Pandemic.

It's a work in progress. Happily enough a lot of the services and brands we aren't tied to anyway. The rest are just simple consumer choices moving forward.

If you're interested just do a bit of digging and you can find alternatives. But we do realize it's more of a personal thing than anything that will really make a difference. We do what we fell we should, when as and as we can.

So you know for sure all 100,000 plus coming are going to be vaccinated?

Well if so let us know where you got that info.

Athletes and certain officials are being offered the vaccine not all 100,000 plus and it is optional this was made clear by the IOC and Jgov.

Daily testing is now no longer going to be all those working and attending but only the Athletes and certain officials.

The vast majority will only occasionally be tested.

And if you know who Masayoshi Son is you would know he is ethnic Korean so his comments are more than likely not based on any Racism he knows better than that.

1) Son is not against holding professional baseball league which has just started (meaning he believes Japan's domestic condition is OK and endure sports events

2)Son worries foreign athletes and other staffs descend on Japan and spread fatal risks in Japan including mutant variants.

3)JT posters outraged on remark as blatant racism, which was made by a small city in Ibaraki prefecture about foreigners working in the farm, who are most probably not vaccinated, not even known when they made entry to Japan,

4)Being ethnic Korean/multinational company CEO does have nothing to do with either him a racist or not, especially implicit racism against Japanese ( according to his remarks made in the past)

Mixing up all the outrage against Olympics and Ibaraki prefecture so far comes down to

one conclusion. If all those 100,000 foreign staffs full vaccinated at their own or IOC' cost, before entry to Japan all the problem would be solved. Good. someone send message to IOC about that.

Not every country has a variant.

We know that UK and India have rampant variants and they let thousands in from there every day since god who knows when. And if they didn't many posters here would have a hissy fit. Stop the hypocrisy, please.

The world is starting to take notice. This is literally the top story on the Drudge Report right now.

Let the Embarrassment Games begin!

No good Japanese taxpayers approved of the Olympics.

Being a billionaire alone does not provide credibility on COVID science.

Vulnerable people in Japan will be vaccinated. Participants and support staff will be vaccinated. There will be other safeguards will be in place.

Can Mr. Son be more specific about how the Olympics will lead to "significant dangers"? Citing a questionable poll is not exactly science.

When nation's lives are at risk, Japanese premier Suga said "I have no right to dicied whether the Olympic, which is regarded as superspreader, will be held or not." Is it sane?

Can Mr. Son be more specific about how the Olympics will lead to "significant dangers"? Citing a questionable poll is not exactly science.

Exactly, especially when we all know Japanese will do a u-turn and start cheering for their Olympic heroes as soon as the media gets behind it.

So delightful to notice "greed" is not related here.

Good on you Mr. Son.