If you were looking forward to traveling to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics this year, you will have to change your plans.
The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Games – which were already one year behind due to the pandemic – announced on Saturday that international spectators will be prevented from participating in the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Citing restrictions on international travel, organizers said in a statement that there is no guarantee that Japan will allow international visitors to enter the country until the summer.
The decision to bar foreign fans was made “to give clarity to ticket holders living abroad and to allow them to adjust their travel plans at this stage,” the statement said.
Japan has banned many foreigners from entering the country as part of the COVID-19 restrictions and has only recently lifted the state of emergency in some prefectures.
Tickets purchased by foreigners will be refunded. Organizers said 600,000 tickets were sold outside Japan.
It was speculated whether the committee would allow foreigners to participate in the games in the months prior to the announcement. Tokyo committee chairman Seiko Hashimoto also hinted in early March that he was not.
The fact that the games are scheduled to continue was controversial; a survey by the national channel NHK earlier this year found that the vast majority of Japanese people wanted games to be canceled or postponed again.
“In many ways, the Tokyo 2020 Games will be completely different from any previous games,” said Hashimoto in a statement on Saturday. “We are currently working on specific plans to share support remotely from around the world and help bring people together in ways that are appropriate for our current times.”
The postponement of the 2020 Olympics last year was the first time in the modern era that the timing of the games was affected by an event other than war.
Organizers said it will still be called the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
There have been more than 455,000 cases of COVID-19 in Japan to date and 8,802 deaths. The vaccine launch is still in its early stages, with only frontline employees qualified to be vaccinated. Until Saturday, Japan administered 0.46 doses per 100 people.