Most Japanese support overseas Olympic fan ban: poll

The vast majority of Japanese agree with the decision to bar overseas spectators from the Tokyo Olympics, a new poll found on Monday, with support for the Games still low but growing.

Seiko Hashimoto (center), President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, takes her seat next to Kyoko Raita (R), Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member and speaker for a presentation on the Olympic Charter and Gender Equality, in Tokyo on March 22, 2021. Photo: VCG

Organizers took the unprecedented decision to ban overseas fans from the summer 2021's virus-delayed Games on Saturday, calling the move disappointing but "unavoidable" because of safety fears during the pandemic. A poll by the Asahi Shimbun daily found that 85 percent of respondents think overseas fans should be barred from the event, with only 11 percent saying they should be allowed to attend.

The poll, which received responses from 1,564 people on Saturday and Sunday, found that less than one third of respondents (27 percent) think the Games should be held this summer. The majority said they think the event should either be postponed again (36 percent) or canceled (33 percent).

Games organizers insist another postponement is out of the question. The latest figures suggest support for the Games is slowly growing in Japan, finding just 11 percent thought they should go ahead this summer, rising to 21 percent in February.