Dear President Thomas Bach,

An outstanding Indian statesman, an old friend of mine, has sent me the link to a brief editorial in " The Indian Express" dated July 25, on the occasion of what would have been the first weekend of the Tokyo Games.

The editorial is headed, "Dreams laid low". Its gist is as follows.

<With the COVID vaccine not expected to be ready for mass distribution by next summer, it will be difficult for Japan to guarantee the safety of the Olympians. The decision-makers are walking a tight-rope. While a cancellation is heart-breaking for the athletes, a sporting event, however grand, can’t be worth staging if it is a risk to human life.>
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/olympics-2020-tokyo-covid-19-6522086/

In Japan, the Corona crisis is seriously aggravating in Tokyo with the arrival of the second wave. On March 17,Honorary Professor of Tokyo University Tatsuhiko Kodama warned the Japanese on television that a part of Tokyo, Shiunjuku Ward with 350 thousand inhabitants, could have become an epicenter of Coronavirus, giving birth to a newly mutated covid-19.He pleaded for immediately carrying out PDR tests for all the inhabitants of the Shinjuku Ward. To this day, his pleading remains unattended to!

Japanese civil society is convinced that the abnormal attachment to holding the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games still constitutes the unsurmountable obstacle. The whole world is now awakened to the fact that this is contrary to the spirit of the Olympic Charter.

I am convinced that you realize the gravity of the present situation for the future of the Olympic Games.


With highest and warmest regards,

MItsuhei Murata
Former Japanese Ambassador to Swizerland



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