A petition to cancel the Tokyo Olympics was submitted to the city's governor

A petition to drop the Tokyo Olympics with in excess of 351,000 signatures was submitted to the city's lead representative on Friday, with its coordinator asking authorities to "priorities life". The online petition named "Cancel the Tokyo Olympics to protect our lives" was launched recently by Kenji Utsunomiya, a legal advisor and former candidate for Tokyo governor. 

It has accumulated marks quicker than any past appeal on Change.org's platform in Japan, which Utsunomiya said: "reflects public opinion" on the issue. 

Surveys reliably show a larger part of the Japanese goes against holding the Games this year, preferring either a further postponement or dropping due to the Covid pandemic. 

"I think the Olympics this time is about whether we focus on life or a function and occasion called the Olympics," Utsunomiya told reporters. 

He approached Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to drop the Games. 

"The IOC holds the option to settle on a choice on whether to drop, yet Tokyo, as the host city, should encourage the IOC to drop," he said. 

The appeal is additionally being sent to IOC and International Paralympic Committee just as neighborhood coordinators and the public government. 

It was submitted as Japan fights the fourth wave of infection diseases, with Tokyo and five different prefectures under a highly sensitive situation. 

Later Friday, the action is relied upon to be extended to another three locales, including northern Hokkaido where the Olympic marathon will happen to beat Tokyo's late spring heat. 

Utsunomiya cautioned that "holding the Olympics under these situations implies valuable clinical assets must be saved for the Games." 

On Thursday, a specialists' association cautioned it was "impossible" to hold the Games securely during the pandemic, yet coordinators say infection countermeasures will keep the competitors and Japanese public safe. 

Utsunomiya said the petition would go on to get signatures "until the abrogation is announced," and neglected worries about the expense of rejecting the monstrous occasion. 

"People's lives are more important than money," he said.

In recent days, organizers have held a string of successful test events, including with international athletes, which they say shows their protocols will work.