｜日本語｜

We call for the cancellation of the Olympic public viewings to be held at the Inokashira Park Live Site. We also call for the cancellation of the large-scale public viewings planned by local governments across the country.

In spite of the government's policy that it is important to control the flow of people during the pandemic, large-scale public viewings are scheduled to take place at locations nationwide. After Rochelle Kopp started a petition on change.org,  many people shared their opinions on Twitter and articles appeared in the press, leading to cancellation of the public viewing planned for Yoyogi Park.

However, the public viewing at the Inokashira Park Live Site, which is expected to have 20,000 people, is still being prepared. While there are problems with all the public viewings planned by municipalities, where thousands or tens of thousands of people will be crowded into one place and screaming, we hope that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will first cancel the planned public viewing at Inokashira Park, which is the largest one. And we hope that those in charge of the operations of the other public viewing venues will reconsider whether to hold theirs.

Tokyo Governor Koike has said that it is important to "control the flow of people" and furthermore, "I ask all residents of Tokyo to refrain from going out. In particular, please refrain from going out after 8 p.m. on weekdays, and on Saturdays and Sundays. Please refrain from traveling between Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures.” There is no consistency between these statements and plans for holding a public viewing, as a public viewing creates unnecessary movement of people.

Public viewing of the Olympics should be absolutely cancelled for the following reasons

1. 20,000 people gathered in one place to "shout”

It is said that loud cheering will be prohibited at the public viewings, but when the Japanese team scores or turns the game around, how will people restrain themselves from cheering or shouting?  Of course there are going to be a lot of droplets flying.

2. Not only the venue, but also the area around the nearest station and the downtown area will be packed with people

Everyone knows about the huge crowds in Shibuya, Roppongi, etc. after the public viewing of Japan's national soccer team matches, and how rough it was on the surrounding streets, and in pubs, sports bars, etc. Can the hustle and bustle in Kichijoji and Mitaka after 20,000 people gathered in Inokashira Park, and the overcrowded trains, be tolerated? There are at least three games scheduled for the Japanese men's national soccer team alone, and three baseball games and many other games that are expected to draw large crowds.

3. Games ending at 10 pm

Due to consideration of broadcasting times in the U.S., the soccer and baseball games will not end until 10 pm. At that hour, 20,000 people will leave the public viewing venue. With either the state of emergency or “manen boshi” rules likely to be in place, most restaurants and bars will be closed. Probably many people will buy liquor at convenience stores and drink in the streets. This could lead to a fifth wave of infection in the areas of Kichijoji and Mitaka surrounding the Inokashira Park public viewing.

4 It is difficult to keep social distance in the standing space

In the planned public viewing venues, some or all of the spaces will be standing room only. True distance management will be impossible.

5. Large-scale public viewing attracts people from a wide geographical area

It is fundamentally contradictory for the Tokyo metropolitan government to conduct large-scale public viewing at the same time that it is advocating that citizens refraining from crossing the borders between Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures.

For these reasons, large-scale public viewing of the Olympic Games is extremely dangerous and poses a risk not only to the participants but also to the surrounding residents and users of the nearest train station.

We strongly urge cancellation of the planned public viewing in Inokashira Park.

We also urge the cancellation of the large-scale public viewings being organized by local governments scheduled nationwide.

The Inokashira Park live site can be cancelled at the discretion of Governor Koike, the Organizing Committee and the sponsors. Other municipalities can also stop their public viewings if the head of the municipality decides to stop it. The decision should be able to be made independently from the IOC.

If you are new to change.org, you will need to enter your name and email address. Don't worry, you don't need to donate to support this campaign. If you click on the "Share" button, a link will appear so that you can easily share this campaign on social media.

In addition to the public viewing, we are also collecting signatures on a petition to call for the cancellation or postponement of the Olympics itself. 

Members of the press and others who have questions, please contact us via Twitter or email.

https://twitter.com/_watashitachi

info@watashitachi.org

We are a voluntary organization.

Watakushitachi is a voluntary organization. We started this campaign with the aim of "manifesting the majority" in order to prevent the government from going in the opposite direction of what the majority of the people support.