以下、The Times(Thursday January 21 2021, 5.00pm GMT)より。
The cancellation of the Olympics would be a financial disaster for Japan, which has spent at least $25 billion on preparations
Richard Lloyd Parry, Tokyo
The Japanese government has privately concluded that the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled because of the coronavirus, and the focus is now on securing the Games for the city in the next available year, 2032.
According to a senior member of the ruling coalition, there is agreement that the Games, already postponed a year, are doomed. The aim now is to find a face-saving way of announcing the cancellation that leaves open the possibility of Tokyo playing host at a later date. “No one wants to be the first to say so but the consensus is that it’s too difficult,” the source said. “Personally, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
(omitting the rest)
