Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Most Japanese firms against holding Olympics next summer

August 21, 2020 14:50 IST

IMAGE: Of the companies surveyed, 22.5% believed the Tokyo Olympics should be held as planned while 18.4% said they ought to be held with fewer spectators and 5.3% said they should be held with no spectators. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

More than half of Japanese companies believe the Tokyo Olympics, originally planned for this summer but postponed for a year due to the novel coronavirus, should be cancelled or put off again, a survey by a Japanese think-tank found.

 

Of some 13,000 companies that responded to the poll by Tokyo Shoko Research, 27.8% said the sporting event should be cancelled while 25.8% saw another postponement as desirable.

Japan lifted in late May a state of emergency imposed to stop the coronavirus, as it recorded fewer infections, but cases started to increase again in July.

"With the end of the spread of infection nowhere in sight, companies are divided into for and against holding the event in 2021," the research group said in a report, published on Thursday.

Of the companies surveyed, 22.5% believed the Tokyo Olympics should be held as planned while 18.4% said they ought to be held with fewer spectators and 5.3% said they should be held with no spectators.

The poll was conducted over the Internet between late July and early August.

Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.