Japan carrying on with preparations for Olympics after Trump suggests delay

A Japanese government spokesman on Friday said preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are proceeding as planned despite President Trump’s suggestion that the event be delayed.

“I am aware of President Trump’s comments, but we are working closely with the IOC [International Olympic Committee], the organizing committee, and Tokyo in preparing for the Games as planned,” spokesman Yoshihide Suga said, according to Reuters.

Trump on Thursday floated that Japan should consider delaying the 2020 Summer Olympics for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“I just can’t see having no people there. In other words, not allowing people. Maybe, and this is just my idea, maybe they postpone it for a year,” Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Ireland.

In a phone call between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday, they did not discuss postponing the Olympics in Tokyo, nor did they consider hosting them without spectators, according to senior government spokesman Naoki Okada, according to Reuters.

“The prime minister said firmly that he wanted to win the battle with coronavirus and make this summer’s Olympics a success,” Okada said in a media briefing after the phone call. “President Trump said he thought highly of the effort.”

Trump and Abe also did not discuss any travel bans between the U.S. and Japan.

On Wednesday, Trump announced a 30-day travel ban to countries in the European Union, saying his priority was the “wellbeing of America first.”

As of Friday, Japan confirmed a total of 1,380 cases of COVID-19, including 696 cases from a cruise ship quarantined there, with 24 confirmed deaths, according to The New York Times.