没有海外观众的东京奥运会
据日本共同社报道，日本政府将不允许海外观众参加东京奥运会，以遏制新冠病毒的传播。
3日晚，日本奥运相丸川珠代与东京奥组委主席桥本圣子、国际奥委会主席巴赫等人举行五方会谈，就能否接纳海外观众展开讨论，最终决定预计在25日得出。据一名匿名官员表示，日本政府已经明确将朝着“闭门办会”的方向迈进。
由于日本疫情感染范围仍在持续扩大，加上连日来变异病毒感染者数量激增，使得本国民众反对举办奥运会的情绪日益高涨。目前已有超过1000名志愿者退出东京奥运会的志愿活动，多名日本知名人士也先后请辞奥运火炬手，这些都促使日本政府进一步考虑最终不接纳海外观众的可能性。
除不再接纳海外观众外，出于疫情防控考虑，日本政府也将对本国观众入场人数进行限制，这些都将对东京奥运会的经济收益造成致命打击。据悉，此前东京方面设想通过奥运会吸引百万名海外观众进入日本。
The Japanese government will not allow overseas spectators to attend the Tokyo Olympics to curb the spread of COVID-19, reported Kyodo News on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Nikkei reported that Japan plans to set a cap of 2,000 overseas arrivals daily during the Olympics.
Kyodo News also revealed that the Japanese organizing committee of the Olympics and the country's government will have a discussion with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and two other bodies before a formal decision is made. The remote meeting may happen next week.
The detection of more contagious variants of the coronavirus in many countries plus the fact that the Japanese public has been growing more worried about the pandemic pushed the government to decide it's no longer tenable to "welcome fans from abroad," according to anonymous government officials.
东京奥组委主席桥本圣子在新闻发布会上强调，尽管日本方面十分希望世界各地观众能够亲临东京奥运会现场，“但是除非我们准备好接受他们，日本的医疗状况也很好，否则会给海内外游客带来很多麻烦。”
随着疫情在全球持续扩散，东京奥运会已经从原定的2020年推迟到2021年，延期使日本政府至少追加了近28亿美金的财政支出，如果最终失去了海外观众这部分门票与旅游收入，日本将面临220亿美元的经济损失。
截至当地时间9日，日本新冠肺炎累计确诊超44万例。当前日本首都圈仍处于新冠疫情紧急状态之中,为避免疫情进一步扩散，日本政府已将大东京都市区的紧急状态延长至3月21日。
尽管如此，禁止海外观众并不是东京奥运会面临的最大挑战。随着东京奥运会计划举办日期临近，在紧急状态解除后，本月，来自世界各地的1.1万名运动员将陆续抵达日本。他们将作为“特殊情况”获批入境且无需进行检疫，但活动范围仅限住宿和运动场馆内。如何保证参赛选手的安全，防止疫情在奥运会举办期间出现大规模传播，仍是留给东京奥组委亟待解决的棘手命题。
"We would really like people from around the world to come to a full stadium, but unless we are prepared to accept them and the medical situation in Japan is perfect, it will cause a great deal of trouble also to visitors from overseas," said Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee.
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to 2021 brought up the cost of the event to at least 1.64 trillion yen ($15 billion), but the organizing committee is still looking at some 90 billion yen ($827 million) in ticket sale revenues. That number, however, is set to drop with refunds to overseas ticket holders.
Banning fans from abroad does not mean it will be a cakewalk for Japan because there will still be over 11,000 athletes from around the world competing in different events in Tokyo. Though they are likely to arrive early enough to go through all the necessary COVID-19 protocols, how to keep everyone safe will still be a vital issue.