Tokyo 2020, the hidden Games: the world event that exists but cannot be seen

(from the correspondent Emanuele Rizzi) – Tonight in Tokyo the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be staged and will be without an audience but with seats reserved only for dignitaries, diplomats, members of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic sponsors and the media. Around the city of Tokyo and also in other Olympic venues such as Saitama where the national basketball teams play, the Games are not advertised, but are almost hidden from the Japanese population. The world event that unites peoples and wants to be a sort of rebirth from covid-19, in the Japanese capital, exists but cannot be seen. On the streets there are no images of the Five Olympic Circles, there are no signs, there is no Olympic lane, except in short stretches near the huge Media Center of the Games, with the buses carrying no Games logo, but they are small signs with the numerical indications of the collection points. Athletes live in the Olympic Village bubble from where they can go out and re-enter only for competitions and are tested every day and the insiders who live in other bubbles, created to contain covid infections. The Olympic signs can only be seen near the facilities, while in the hotels that host all foreigners who come to follow the Games they are completely anonymous. Fear of covid infections permeates Japanese sentiment with Tokyo 2020 officials who warned that Japanese audiences would share images and evidence of Olympic accredited people violating the rules on social media, reaffirming the importance that visitors adhere to covid-19 protocols to avoid facing possible sanctions.Hidemasa Nakamura, Game delivery officer of the Games, confirmed that around 32,000 people including athletes and staff have arrived in Japan for the Games since the beginning of July, 20 of which have resulted positive for coronavirus on arrival. He said the normal infection rate was 2.4% compared to 0.06% for Olympic participants, claiming this was due to checkups, vaccinations, and performing at least two tests before departure. According to Nakamura, 96,000 screening tests were conducted with 87 positives including 35 from abroad and 52 from Japan. “The measures are working fully,” Nakamura said. “We believe we respect the playbook and that the Games are safe and secure”.