Olympics in the age of COVID-19: What does it mean for politics in Japan?

Japanese athletes are winning more medals and the country is getting more COVID-19 infected people. This is a current reality of the Tokyo Olympics. What is the media image of the Games in Japan? What do people think about the situation and will it affect the politics in the country as the parliamentary elections will take place in October? Political scientist Yuki Shiraito thinks that at this moment people do not have a clear opinion about the Games. Our conversation took place on Monday afternoon Japanese time so he was also able to update me in a real time about the successes of Japanese athletes but also about the increased number of the COVID-19 cases. Dr. Shiraito is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty Associate of the Center for Political Studies, and Faculty Member of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan. Listen to our conversation.