The Summer Olympics will have much less international flair than usual.
The Tokyo games are expected to commence July 23, as expected, but Japan is blocking overseas fans from attending events, reported the Kyodo news agency on Tuesday.
"In the current situation it is impossible to bring in foreign spectators," an unnamed official told the Japanese newspaper Mainichi last week.
The prohibition of non-Japanese spectators had been the likely conclusion for months as the virulent COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 117 million people worldwide.
© PHILIP FONGJapan is barring international spectators from attending the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Japan is barring international spectators from attending the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. (PHILIP FONG/)
Olympic competitors are expected to reside in a bubble village near Tokyo Bay and remain there until their departure, and organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said a decision on venue capacity will be reached by the end of April, noted The Associated Press.
"We need to look at the overall situation before we decide on any percentage rates," explained Hashimoto. "We believe we will not be accepted unless the citizens feel confident that sufficient countermeasures are taken."
Fewer fans will be costly. The organizing committee has budgeted approximately $800 million from ticket sales - a shortfall to be made up by the Japanese government, according to The AP.
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Japan has done a relatively formidable job in limiting COVID-19 cases nationwide. As of Tuesday, the country has reported 8,358 fatalities, according to health tracker Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S., with a population roughly 2.5 times greater than Japan, has a death rate 60 times larger than the Asian nation of 125 million inhabitants.
America still tops all countries worldwide in coronavirus deaths at more than 525,000. Approximately one in every five people on Earth who has succumbed to the highly infectious disease has been an American.