Tokyo residents react with 1 year until Olympics

As the Tokyo Olympics once again hit the one-year-to-go mark on Thursday, opinion on whether the games should go ahead was divided on the streets of the Japanese capital.

"If they take (appropriate safety) measures, there is a way to hold the event, so I think they should go ahead with it," said 22-year-old office worker Akari Masuda.

Yet Hikaru Okubo was ambivalent, saying that "if the Olympics were held in a foreign country (...) I myself would not go unless I could feel completely safe going out there."

A poll by Japan's Kyodo News Agency showed just under 25% of the country favored holding the games next year.

About 70% said they should be postponed or canceled.

One Tokyo-based engineer, who only gave his surname as Fujisawa, said holding the Olympics and Paralympics next year would be premature.

"I don't think they should go ahead. I don't think (the coronavirus pandemic) will end in a year," he said, adding that he hoped Tokyo would be an option after the Paris Games.