{"id":8861,"date":"2021-07-20T09:59:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T14:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/tokyo-olympics-reach-the-starting-line-even-as-most-japanese-say-country-has-handled-pandemic-poorly\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:43","slug":"tokyo-olympics-reach-the-starting-line-even-as-most-japanese-say-country-has-handled-pandemic-poorly","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/07\/20\/tokyo-olympics-reach-the-starting-line-even-as-most-japanese-say-country-has-handled-pandemic-poorly\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo Olympics reach the starting line even as most Japanese say country has handled pandemic poorly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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People wearing face masks take a photo in front of the Olympic Rings installation at the Olympic Square in Shinjuku, Japan. (Stanislav Kogiku\/SOPA Images\/LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics last year due to the coronavirus pandemic<\/a>, the Games appear on track to proceed in Japan this week despite an increase of COVID-19 cases<\/a> in the country since May. A Pew Research Center spring survey shows most Japanese adults disapprove<\/a> of how their country has handled the pandemic thus far. At the same time, domestic polls show the Japanese public does not think<\/a> the Games should proceed this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Among all 17 publics included in the Center\u2019s spring 2021 survey, those in Japan report the most negative assessment of how their country has handled the pandemic<\/a>. More than six-in-ten Japanese adults (64%) say Japan has done a bad job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next-most negative reviews of how their own countries handled the pandemic come from Americans (58%) and Spaniards (55%). Among the five other publics surveyed in the Asia-Pacific, majorities rate their own handling of the pandemic as good. In fact, about half or more in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and Taiwan rate responses where they live as very<\/em> good. In Japan, just 4% say the country did a very good job handling the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan stands out from other publics surveyed when it comes to the relationship between their ratings of the country\u2019s response to the pandemic and the country\u2019s number of COVID-19-related deaths<\/a>. The Japanese generally gave less positive responses about their pandemic performance than other publics even though Japan had fewer deaths relative to others who voice similar levels of dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>