TOKYO -- Train service in the Tokyo area will run longer hours to accommodate events that finish well into the evening, fueling concern that late-night commuters will spur a new wave of coronavirus infections.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee announced Wednesday that rail services will operate at a greater frequency during the Olympics, with the last trains scheduled past normal shutdown times, which are between midnight and 1 a.m.
Critics have weighed in against the plan, arguing the virus already poses risks to the games.
"I would ask that they don't allow spectators after 9 p.m.," said Saitama Prefecture Gov. Motohiro Ono. Saitama will host basketball and soccer games that will end at 11 p.m.
Nearby Chiba Prefecture will hold taekwondo and fencing tournaments that will wrap up after 10 p.m. The two prefectures bordering Tokyo are lobbying the organizing committee to ban spectators during the evening.
Commuters board a train in Tokyo on May 6. Trains in the capital usually stop running around midnight, but there are plans to extend service hours during the Olympics. © Kyodo The July 23 opening ceremony at the Japan National Stadium will be held between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. In all, 18 sporting events will hold some competitions at 10 p.m. or later.
These competitions are being held late at night because event finals were scheduled not to overlap in consideration of broadcasters that will air popular sporting events in Europe and elsewhere overseas.
In the Tokyo area, 54 rail lines have had their final trains pushed back later into the night so that spectators will be able to return home after events end. The Rinkai Line, which runs through Tokyo's waterfront area that is the site of many events, will cease service 80 minutes later than usual.
The Yamanote Line connecting Tokyo's major stations will halt daily operations at about 2 a.m.
These measures could potentially increase the number of people who patronize restaurants at night. A growing number of establishments is electing not to comply with requests to cut their business hours.
"It's not just spectators holding tickets. There will be human traffic created at sports bars and other restaurants all over the country," said Takeshi Terashima, a professor of respiratory medicine at Tokyo Dental College. "We can't rule out an elevated risk of infections in all parts."
An additional concern is the elevated risk of heat stroke because summers in Japan bring high temperatures even at night. In Shinjuku Ward, where the National Stadium is located, an emergency and critical care center is bracing for a fallout.
"We are short-handed at night, and we are overwhelmed with emergency cases as we speak," the center's manager said. "It'll be punishing if we take in more patients."
Now the challenge shifts to minimizing evening foot traffic. The organizing committee has issued guidelines to spectators urging them to travel directly to venues and go straight home after events without taking detours to restaurants. But that guidance cannot be enforced.
Prefectural governors have the authority to request or order limits on facility use under emergency provisions that expire July 11. Even after that date, governors can issue guidance.
"At the end of the day, I'm prepared to do my duties as the governor to keep the people of this prefecture safe, no matter what the organizing committee decides," Saitama Gov. Ono told a senior deputy.
Ahead of talks with the central government about the decision, a senior official at the Tokyo organizing committee said the body will float the idea of prohibiting spectators.
"The demands from the governors are significant," the official said. "It won't be easy to change course."