Preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games are in the final stages, ahead of the official start on July 23.

Time flies and the Olympics are almost upon us, and with quarantines still required for many entering Japan and plenty of things to prepare in these times of COVID-19, people of all kinds (aside from spectators) are arriving in the country to get ready for the Games. One sign of the Olympic preparations is the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Main Press Centre, which has taken its place in Tokyo's Koto Ward. Not far from where many of the Olympic facilities are located, the Main Press Centre will be welcoming the media in Tokyo Big Sight, an enormous convention center on the waters of Tokyo Bay. With vaccination numbers still low in Japan, one of the safety precautions being taken by the Tokyo 2020 organizers is a reduction of crowds―including both spectators and press. Down from an initial 8,400 reports and members of the press, only 4,600 will be allowed to attend this year.

Even with fewer reporters on-site, a number of media outlets are complaining of "excessive" quarantine measures being required of foreign members of the press. Close to a dozen outlets, including the New York Times, contributed to a set of open letters addressed to the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Organising Committee, expressing frustrations at the strict procedures being directed at international media, and asking that reporters be able to take interviews as long as they wear masks and continue to social distance.

Of course, the reporters have been following the athletes to Tokyo, and the number of Olympic participants in Tokyo is increasing each day. On July 1st, 130 athletes from the Olympic teams of the US, Germany, Greece, and Ireland entered Japan through Tokyo's Narita airport, heading off to their own camps until the Olympic Village opens on July 13th. Many of them will be beelining for training designed to adapt the athletes to the local environment and get them ready to perform at their peak for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Starting the first of July, Narita Airport has even opened a special "Olympic Lane," to streamline and expedite the passage of Olympic participants through the airport, immigration, and quarantine procedures. From the moment they disembark from the airplane, Olympic athletes, coaches, and other members of the team are split off from the flow of ordinary passengers, and ushered through the process of entering Japan separately.

Current policy holds that if one or more members of a team coming from abroad is found to be infected with COVID-19, then the whole team will be quarantined to their accommodations (unable to leave for training) until they can prove that they had no contact with the sick team member, or test results prove negative. Since implementing this policy, however, the government has found no new cases of COVID-19 among athletes arriving in Japan.

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