Column: The Tokyo Olympics will go on, but in name only
Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the Tokyo Olympics speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Friday, April 16, 2021. Tokyo Olympic organizers are again being forced to assure the world that the postponed games will open in just over three months despite surging COVID-19 cases in Japan.(Kyodo News via AP)

Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the Tokyo Olympics speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Friday, April 16, 2021. Tokyo Olympic organizers are again being forced to assure the world that the postponed games will open in just over three months despite surging COVID-19 cases in Japan.(Kyodo News via AP)

Apr. 16, 2021 04:39 AM EDT
An Uber Eats delivery person carries items near the Japan National Stadium, where opening ceremony and other events are planned for postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with engravings in honor of 1964 Tokyo Olympics seen on the side of the stadium wall behind the fence Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Tokyo. Two top officials of Japan's ruling LDP party on Thursday, April 15, 2021, said radical changes could be coming to the Tokyo Olympics. One went as far to suggest they still could be canceled, and the other that even if they proceed, it might be without any fans.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

An Uber Eats delivery person carries items near the Japan National Stadium, where opening ceremony and other events are planned for postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with engravings in honor of 1964 Tokyo Olympics seen on the side of the stadium wall behind the fence Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Tokyo. Two top officials of Japan's ruling LDP party on Thursday, April 15, 2021, said radical changes could be coming to the Tokyo Olympics. One went as far to suggest they still could be canceled, and the other that even if they proceed, it might be without any fans.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Apr. 15, 2021 02:19 AM EDT
Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Toshihiro Nikai delivers a speech at the annual party convention amid outbreak of the new coronavirus in Tokyo Sunday, March 21, 2021. Japanese Prime Minister and LDP leader Yoshihide Suga pledged Sunday to do his utmost to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus ahead of the Olympic torch relay and his upcoming visit to Washington. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool Photo via AP)

Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Toshihiro Nikai delivers a speech at the annual party convention amid outbreak of the new coronavirus in Tokyo Sunday, March 21, 2021. Japanese Prime Minister and LDP leader Yoshihide Suga pledged Sunday to do his utmost to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus ahead of the Olympic torch relay and his upcoming visit to Washington. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/Pool Photo via AP)

Mar. 21, 2021 04:29 AM EDT
A bird rests with a backdrop of the Olympic rings floating in the water in the Odaiba section Thursday, April 8, 2021, in Tokyo. Two top officials of Japan's ruling LDP party on Thursday, April 15, 2021, said radical changes could be coming to the Tokyo Olympics. One went as far to suggest they still could be canceled, and the other that even if they proceed, it might be without any fans. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A bird rests with a backdrop of the Olympic rings floating in the water in the Odaiba section Thursday, April 8, 2021, in Tokyo. Two top officials of Japan's ruling LDP party on Thursday, April 15, 2021, said radical changes could be coming to the Tokyo Olympics. One went as far to suggest they still could be canceled, and the other that even if they proceed, it might be without any fans. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Apr. 15, 2021 02:20 AM EDT