Tokyo Games to offer a light of hope for troubled world

How is Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet planning to lead Japan in 2021? In this series, leaders and intellectuals share their thoughts on political issues the administration will tackle this year, ranging from novel coronavirus countermeasures and the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, to diplomacy and security. For the first two installments, The Yomiuri Shimbun interviewed Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister and current president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The following is excerpted from the interview.

It is difficult to decide what kind of event we want to make the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. In a time like this with so many uncertainties, everyone was saying it would be all right once the new year arrived, but with decisions regarding spectators to professional baseball games still unclear due to the coronavirus, I understand that it is a difficult time for anyone to make plans.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said [when he visited Japan last November] that a time like this will be a springboard for a new era. Regarding the work of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Bach said it showed “a light at the end of the dark tunnel” when everyone was stuck in this uncertain, unstable situation, not knowing when they would get out of it.

I believe if we all work together to reach the exit [which is the opening of the Tokyo Games], a new era will eventually come. That’s how I feel.

That’s why we really need the public’s understanding. Looking at public opinion polls, everyone is in favor of holding the Olympics, but when it comes to individual issues, various opinions emerge, from what will happen to Games spectators to the situation if the virus is not contained. There are still problems to be solved, but I believe what is required now is to move forward with the determination to solve them.

Those in a position to make the Games happen must move forward with strength. We must never hesitate or show any doubt. Let’s continue to move forward. Right now, I feel like we’re trying to score a try in a rugby match no matter what.

Entry conditions for athletes, staff and the media were discussed in compiling the interim report of the government’s coordination meeting for COVID-19 countermeasures. The most difficult part is how to handle spectators, but this is something we can talk about a little further down the road, and right now there is no need to simulate an event with no spectators at all, or even what percentage of the capacity will be used.

The Games will begin in July, so if we keep an eye on the situation until around spring, we can grasp the latest situation at home as well as how things will turn out abroad. Depending on the situation, things will change. Right now, I think it’s natural to have spectators for all the events.

PLEDGING SAFETY, SECURITY

We are proceeding with the necessary virus measures in the way that has been decided. Regarding those who enter Japan, including athletes, it is necessary to create an environment to keep track of information such as where they go. On the technical side, there are almost no problems, as experts are studying various approaches using smartphones and other methods. As the host country, we should do

Regarding (former Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe, if you ask me, I would say it was regrettable [that he resigned as prime minister last September], but it was about his health. I guess Abe himself must be the most disappointed.

Even though he is the politician who was involved in the 2020 Games from the get-go — ever since Japan launched its bid to host the event — we won’t be able to cross the finish line together when the time finally comes to host the Games. This was the hardest part of all, so I really wanted to do something about it. That’s why I asked him to stay on as an honorary supreme advisor of the advisory meeting of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games even after he left his post as supreme advisor, which is held by the prime minister.

I dare to say this, but the issue of the sakura viewing party makes me feel gloomy.

Having said that, even if the prime minister at his busiest time showed up for people who came from their home constituencies the day before the party, there is no way he would take care of their participation fees and other payments. That is something the secretary would do.

[Prime Minister Yoshihide] Suga is a truly modest person. I can’t think of anyone like him who is so diligent. He is like a good-hearted vice mayor of a village or town government, and I think that makes everyone feel an affinity with him.

He is also firmly faithful to his beliefs. I was so glad when Suga said he wanted to succeed the Abe administration. He said he wanted to build on the work that Abe had done over almost eight years while battling his illness, so I felt I had to support Suga even more than I did Abe.

People in Japan have a lot of complaints about [how the government has handled] the novel coronavirus pandemic, and as a result Suga’s approval rating has dropped. But he is working really hard to do his job, isn’t he? It doesn’t really matter if he reads in a monotone [when responding to Diet questions]. He doesn’t hide how he does things, and that’s so typical of him, I think.

I’m retired from politics, so I try not to say anything about it, but the right to dissolve the House of Representatives is the prime minister’s greatest power and greatest weapon. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if a dissolution takes place any time this year. Having said that, I’m hoping that the timing won’t conflict with the Olympics and Paralympics.

Nowadays, both politicians and government officials have become diminished in stature. The opposition parties are doing all sorts of things, like merging and moving apart, but the people who get the most attention in the Diet question sessions have hardly changed in the past 10 years.

If there is no change at all, there is no point in asking the public to pay attention to the opposition parties. Voters can’t take hope from them. Under this situation, the Liberal Democratic Party has also become less dynamic. It was remarked upon that Abe’s Cabinet was in power for a long time, but I would have liked to see some other LDP politicians grow a little more during that time.

It seems like everyone is standing up for the next move, without having had a proper shikiri preparation as in sumo bouts [in which wrestlers face each other in the squatting position].

Wrestlers repeatedly take the shikiri position prior to the actual moment of the tachiai jump-off, but they stand up only when they feel both physically and mentally ready [to fight].

I could tell that Fumio Kishida [who was formerly LDP Policy Research Council chairperson and lost the LDP presidential election] wasn’t feeling that way yet. I wonder how much he understood about what he had to do to become LDP president.

At the time of the presidential election, he came to me and said, “The election [campaign] will finally start tomorrow,” and I said, “You are two weeks late.” But then I told him to visit [Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro] Aso immediately to ask him for his support and tell him, “If you make me LDP president, I’ll leave everything up to you.” I said to Kishida that by doing so the decision would be made by that night, but he only responded by saying, “Isn’t it too early?” Having been a politician with such high skills for a long time, a fire should have ignited in him, but that didn’t happen.

I also feel sorry for [former LDP Secretary General] Shigeru Ishiba. I wonder why people don’t follow him after all he has done. I get the feeling that he doesn’t really understand what it is about him that everyone is concerned

If the pandemic is contained in Europe and the United States, I would like to see as many people as possible come to Japan for the Olympics and Paralympics.

I hope the leaders of various countries come as well. [U.S. President-elect Joe] Biden may come, but we could also invite [incumbent President Donald] Trump, and Abe can host him. [President Vladimir] Putin of Russia also wanted to come. If the Chinese leader also comes, [LDP Secretary General Toshihiro] Nikai will be helpful.

Although there are various conflicts and sources of friction among countries, it would be a good idea for everyone to openly and freely talk about how the whole world can cooperate and the experience of how we have gone through this extremely difficult virus crisis with great struggle and effort. Let’s make 2021 a year full of dreams. (Jan. 9, 10)

Yomiuri Shimbun photos