Tokyo 2020 Olympics Notebook - Day 21

‘No smoking’ signs displayed prominently here

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Japan has serious regulations that outlaw smoking in public. Smoking in public is considered uncultured and there are signs everywhere reminding the public that it’s an offence to light up in these public spaces. All around the Tokyo National Stadium, which is hosting the Olympic Games track and field programme along with the opening and closing ceremonies, huge messages inscribed on pedestrian sidewalks scream that “smoking on the street is prohibited.” Hotels have special chambers for smokers as smoking in rooms is strictly prohibited.

Big screens to the rescue for Olympic fans

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Spectators are not allowed at Olympic Games venues but in Gunma Prefecture (province) locals have turned to the big screen to watch the action in cinema halls. Yesterday, some 54 fans who watched the action in a cinema hall in Takasaki were asked not to eat, drink or cheer loudly.

“Cheering at home is nice, but I think it’s best to gather like this and cheer while maintaining social distancing,” 57-year-old public notary Hitoshi Abe is quoted by local media as saying. The ban on fans is meant to help in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.

Five-year-old boy dies of heatstroke

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Local media here reports that police are considering charging the head of a day care in southwestern Japan with professional negligence resulting in death after a five-year-old boy died when he was left aboard a school bus for several hours in intense heat, investigative sources have said. “The boy, Toma Kurakake, was found unconscious in a locked school bus on Thursday evening and later pronounced dead at a hospital,” the Japan Times reports, adding that post-mortem results show the boy died of heatstroke according to police. The head of the day care in Nakama, Fukuoka Prefecture, usually drives the school bus herself to pick children up every morning.