ORGANIZERS of the Tokyo Olympics said on Wednesday that they would ban alcohol at the Games, bowing to an outcry from a Japanese public that is deeply skeptical of hosting the event and weary of months of pandemic restrictions.
Two days earlier, the organizing committee said that it was considering sales of alcohol during the Games, which are scheduled to begin in Tokyo on July 23.
That prompted outrage from many Japanese, with Tokyo and several other areas just emerging from a prolonged state of emergency during which restaurants were prohibited from selling alcohol as a virus control measure.
On Wednesday, the president of Tokyo 2020, Seiko Hashimoto, said that the committee had consulted with experts and decided to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol at Olympic venues “to prevent expansion of infection.”
Asahi Breweries, an official partner and one of the largest beer and spirits producers in Japan,
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