Road closures another sign the Tokyo Games will go ahead

The Tokyo Olympics appear to be moving forward.

Roads leading to prominent Olympic venues were being shut down on Tuesday, signaling a commitment to the imperiled games.

The push onward comes amid considerable opposition from the Japanese public. In May, pushback reached a high when an Asahi Shimbun survey showed 83 percent of those polled believed the Tokyo Olympics should be postponed or canceled. Earlier this month, the games faced another hurdle when 10,000 of the 80,000 unpaid Olympic volunteers dropped out ahead of the event’s July start.

Tokyo is under a state of emergency until June 20, with less than 3 percent of the population vaccinated against COVID-19. The IOC has hoped to quell public fears surrounding the pandemic, stating that they expect 80 percent of the Olympic Village to be vaccinated.