Japan's PM keen for Olympics to go ahead

TOKYO－Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday resisted pressure for changes to the Tokyo Olympics schedule even as sporting events worldwide fall victim to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Abe pledged Japan would host the Games as planned in July and said he had no immediate intention to declare a state of emergency over the virus outbreak.

His comments come two days after US President Donald Trump suggested the Japanese capital postpone the Games for a year as the spread of the virus wreaks havoc on the sporting calendar.

"We will respond by closely coordinating with officials concerned, including the International Olympic Committee, or the IOC. There is no change in this," Abe told a news conference.

"We want to hold the Olympics as planned without any trouble by overcoming the spread of infections," he said.

Organizers, Japanese government officials and the IOC have insisted preparations are on track and there will be no postponement or cancellation.

On Friday, Abe and Trump spoke on the phone about the outbreak and Olympics after Trump proposed a delay.

"We agreed that Japan and the US will cooperate and closely coordinate for success in the Olympics," Abe said, adding they had not discussed any postponement.

Despite the abundance of sporting events being canceled worldwide, Seiko Hashimoto, a former Olympic bronze medalist and Japan's Olympic minister, said earlier last week that the IOC was "pursuing preparations toward holding a safe and secure event." "We will do our utmost to achieve the event as planned," she added.

IOC chief Thomas Bach told German television broadcaster ARD on Thursday that the body would follow recommendations by the World Health Organization, but that work continued for a successful Games.

He acknowledged however that cancellations of Olympic qualifiers are starting to pose "serious problems".

A spokesman for the IOC, Mark Adams also agreed that the Olympics will go on as planned.

"The conclusion from us is that the games are going ahead. The games will go ahead, we're confident they will go ahead, and we're confident they will start on the 24th of July," Adams said during a news conference.

High cost

Among other consequences, a cancellation or postponement of the Olympics would affect 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes, staff members, sponsorships and the thousands of fans who plan on attending.

At the end of 2019, organizers estimated the total cost of the Games at around 1.35 trillion yen ($12.6 billion).

That is divided between the city of Tokyo, which is paying 597 billion yen, the Japanese organizing committee, which contributes 603 billion yen and the central government, which is paying 150 billion yen.

But the actual costs for the country have been hotly debated, with a widely publicized audit report estimating national government spending from the bid in 2013 until 2018 at 1.06 trillion yen, nearly 10 times the budget.

Japanese businesses have also poured money into the event in sponsorships, paying out a record 348 billion yen.

And that figure doesn't include the partnerships signed between major companies and the International Olympic Committee for rights to sponsor several Games. Among those are giants including Japan's Toyota, Bridgestone and Panasonic.

Agencies