“I suppose that he is concerned that while there are voices of anxiety among the public,the event may lead to the expansion of infections,” Nishimura said.
The emperor is honorary patron for the Tokyo 2020 Games and is widely respected in Japan,but he holds no political power.
It is rare for him to speak out on such an important and controversial topic,and his views carry weight. His warning will embarrass the government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC),but it has come too late to cause a change of heart among organisers,who are determined to start the Games onJuly 23,after a one-year delay due to the pandemic.
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Japan’s chief cabinet secretary,Katsunobu Kato,played down the remarks,saying they represented the “view” of the grand steward. “I would like to ask the Imperial Household Agency for details,but as I have said,we will realise a safe and secure Games,” Kato said at a news conference,according to Kyodo.
David Leheny,a professor in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University,called the statement from the Imperial Household “very surprising,” especially because it “cuts directly at one of the most fraught topics in Japan today.”
Naruhito “knows it’s not in his power to stop the Games - I doubt he would even want it to be in his power - but I assume,like many,he’s nervous about the potential implications of the Games for public health and is signalling that he’d prefer not to be involved or that any comments he makes at the Games will be a bit more sober and less celebratory than the convening committee might want,” he said.