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What the Japanese Think of the Olympics

The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo were supposed to be a symbol of recovery — a signal to the world that, after a huge earthquake in 2011, Japan had bounced back.

The pandemic overwhelmed those plans, but both the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government are determined to hold the delayed Games this year. That is despite the concerns about thousands of international athletes descending on Tokyo while the coronavirus still hangs over the world.

In Japan, the worry is widespread. Less than 10 percent of the population is vaccinated. And in polls, about 85 percent of people say they fear that the Olympics will cause a rebound of the virus in Japan.