Enthusiasm for Tokyo Games viewed by some as harassment

From Jiji Press

July 30 2021

TOKYO – With the Tokyo Olympics attracting a lot of public attention in Japan, some people who are not interested in the Games, or sports in general, are feeling uncomfortable or even harassed. 

As Japanese athletes pull off superb performances at the Tokyo Olympics, which opened Friday after a one-year postponement due to the new coronavirus pandemic, excitement is growing in Japan, even though many in the country had been showing opposition to the staging of the Games amid the virus crisis.

“I’m sick of Olympic talk,” a person said in a Twitter post. “I’m treated as being unpatriotic at work,” another Twitter post read.

Such posts with hashtags, including “#olympicharassement”, started increasing on Twitter around the time of the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics.

Many of the people posting such comments are believed to be those who simply have no interest in the sporting event, rather than those strongly opposing it.