Thread by @tkatsumi06j

Canceling the olympics is the only way

Imagine a group of lovers huddled together walking along the river at night or three generations of families embracing each other on their grandchild's birthday. What we are looking for is a world where such "everyday life" has returned.

However, Japan is now on the verge of becoming a "disturbed country" that goes directly against such hopes. Holding the Olympics and Paralympics under a declared state of emergency as the new coronavirus infection continues to spread?

If it were any other country, we would be disgusted and say, "What a terrible country!"
　
The first and foremost duty of a national leader is to protect people's lives.

If we still don't know what this virus is all about, and 90,000 people are coming in and out of our country, how can we prevent the spread of infection? In fact, this may be the starting point for another pandemic to strike the entire world.

There is no choice but to cancel the Olympics as soon as possible. If we have to pay compensation, we should. We may be able to recover the economy, but we can't recover human lives.

It is time for the medical community and the press to use their common sense and conscience to raise their voices against the Olympics.

For those who are blinded by their own interests, I wonder if this is just another "Buddha in a horse's ear," although it may be disrespectful to the horse to say so.

JIRO AKAGAWA (73)
Author, Tokyo

"Reader's Voice"
@asahi
June 6, 2021

Via DeepL.com + edit

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🇯🇵Japanese-to-🇬🇧English translation thread by @tkatsumi06j on a 6/6/2021 reader’s comment published on @Asahi written by world renown novelist #AkagawaJiro #赤川次郎 entitled “Canceling the olympics is the only way” #SaveLivesNotTheOlympics
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Digital Japanese version also available.

（声）五輪中止、それしか道はない：朝日新聞デジタル asahi.com/articles/DA3S1…