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Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Canceling Tokyo Olympics is an 'option,' ruling party's No. 2 says

LDP's Nikai later walks back comment as Suga says no change in preparations

LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai created a controversy on April 15, 2021, by speaking hypothetically of an option to cancel the already postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. (Nikkei montage/Ken Kobayashi/Takaki Kashiwabara)

TOKYO -- Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary-general of Japan's ruling party, on Thursday said canceling the Tokyo Olympics could be an option if the coronavirus spreads further, though a senior government official later told Nikkei that "it is impossible to cancel the Olympics."

Nikai, the No. 2 leader of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Liberal Democratic Party, made the hypothetical remark while recording a TV program at TBS.

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