In the face of a global resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan is preparing for the possibility that the Tokyo Games -- which were postponed from 2020 to this year -- will not happen, as a Japanese cabinet minister recently stressed that the host nation needs to be ready for anything.
"We need to do the best we can to prepare for the Games at this moment, but it could go either way," Taro Kono, administrative and regulatory reform minister, said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.
A state of emergency in the Tokyo region has been expanded beyond that area after COVID-19 infections exceeded 1,500 cases on Thursday.
Of course, with the statement that things "could go either way" comes the possibility that the games will still happen. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, for example, said Wednesday that planning for the games this summer is going "full steam ahead."
"Anything is possible, but as the host of the Games we need to do whatever we can, so that when it's a Go, we can have a good Olympic Games," Kono said. "The Olympic Committee must be thinking about Plan B, Plan C. But the situation is not easy."
Even with all of this, other aspects of the games -- such as whether spectators will be allowed into games or how the country's immigration policy will work during that time -- are still being decided. As far as the spectator issue is concerned, that decision will be made in February or March, according to Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori.
