Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday began a series of meetings over the coming days with foreign VIPs attending the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, among them U.S. first lady Jill Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The leaders of about 15 countries and international organizations are among 950 dignitaries, sponsors and other people related to the Games who will be present at the 68,000-seat National Stadium.
Under a COVID-19 state of emergency, spectators will be absent from the traditional extravaganza, usually a time of celebration for the host nation. This time around, after a yearтАЩs pandemic delay, the Japanese public is largely locked out and distrustful of the Games.
The ceremony has been pared back to prevent crowding, with the parade of nations, a centerpiece of the show featuring smiling and waving athletes, dramatically reduced.
Suga is receiving the foreign dignitaries at Akasaka Palace, a neo-baroque state guest house originally built as the crown princeтАЩs residence in 1909.
The prime minister and his wife Mariko were set to have dinner there on Thursday evening with the wife of U.S. President Joe Biden, who is leading the American Olympic delegation.
An educator who continues to work as a writing professor at a community college, Jill Biden is visiting Japan for the first time since her husband took office in January. She is scheduled to meet Emperor Naruhito along with other guests at the Imperial Palace on Friday.
Suga is set to meet with Macron on Saturday, when the French president is expected to raise the issue of child abductions by separated parents.
Vincent Fichot, a 39-year-old French national who says his Japanese wife has abducted his two children, has made headlines for going on a hunger strike near the National Stadium in a bid to raise awareness of the issue.
Suga began the three-day marathon of meetings on Thursday with South Sudanese Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior and is also set to hold separate talks with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene.
On Thursday, Emperor Naruhito met with International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach at the Imperial Palace.
The 15 or so world leaders attending the opening ceremony are down from the roughly 40 that attended the same event for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
A senior Foreign Ministry official said the recent spread of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus led many to cancel their trips.
About 70 Cabinet-level officials are also set to visit Japan, though top government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato has said the number may not be finalized until the last minute.
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