Holding 'Autumn Olympics' isn’t that bad an idea for Japan

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to kick off on July 24 and wrap up on Aug. 9.
Unfortunately, as Covid-19 continues to spread, with the number of confirmed infections around the world surpassing 100,000, the Japanese government is now facing a difficult decision over whether to postpone or even cancel the games.
According to International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, the words “cancellation” and “postponement” were not even mentioned with regard to the Tokyo Olympics at the IOC board meeting on Wednesday last week.
However, as the coronavirus outbreak is worsening, it has become uncertain whether or not the games can go ahead as planned.
Earlier on, Seiko Hashimoto, Japan's Olympics minister, told members of the Sangiin (House of Councillors) that according to the agreement made between the government and the IOC, the Tokyo Olympics have to be held within this year.
Hashimoto’s remarks have been widely interpreted to mean that postponing the games to a period before the year-end is now an option for the Japanese government.
While we believe it would be a bit too pessimistic to cancel the Tokyo Olympics at this point, it would also be too optimistic to believe that it can go ahead as scheduled.
As July is just four months away, nobody can tell how the epidemic is likely to play out in the coming days, and therefore it is pretty remote that the Tokyo Olympics can take place according to the original timetable.
Besides, even if both China and Japan can miraculously achieve zero infection by July, who can guarantee that Covid-19 will also be successfully contained in other countries by then?
Our suggestion, therefore, is this: Why not decisively announce its postponement until later in the year as soon as possible in order to avoid throwing athletes and spectators around the world off guard?
In fact, changing the “Summer Olympics” into “Autumn Olympics” isn’t too bad an idea amid the global health crisis.
This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on March 6
Translation by Alan Lee
– Contact us at [email protected]
RT/CG
-
Would Redhill Peninsula be in red? Ben Kwok
How much discount would one need to apply for cashing out the troubled Redhill Peninsula? Most of the owners of the luxury property under the spotlight for its illegal structural scandal after the
-
How to make Hong Kong more walkable Dr. Winnie Tang
In order to develop young people's ability in spatial intelligence and enhance their problem-solving capability, more than 10,000 universities around the world have offered courses related to
-
What is there to love about Hong Kong Brian YS Wong
These days, it’s trendy to talk down Hong Kong. After all, who doesn’t enjoy trashing a city that has seen, in the span of four to five years, unprecedented political turmoil, a pandemic that has
-
Can Hong Kong tap the opportunities in autonomous driving? Dr. Winnie Tang
An essential driver for autonomous driving (AD) development is precision of maps. There are two very different approaches for AD, the so-called Waymo model and the Tesla version, according to Wang
-
Salute! To the unsung heroes Brian YS Wong
Last Friday saw Hong Kong hit by one of the worst, if not downright the worst, rainstorms it has endured in recorded history. 158.1mm of rain was recorded at the Observatory headquarters between 11pm