Top Japanese CEO says hosting the Olympics amounts to a 'suicide mission'

The CEO of Japan's top e-commerce company says that it would be a "suicide mission" for the country to host the Olympic Games this summer.

The comments by Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani in an interview with CNN are among the strongest yet from corporate leaders worried about holding the event as the country remains gripped by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mikitani says he had been trying to convince the government to cancel the Tokyo games, which are scheduled to begin on July 22nd.

He also gave the Japanese government a score of "2 out of 10" for its handling of the pandemic. Other prominent Japanese executives have voiced their worries over this year's Olympics, but none have been as critical as Mikitani.

When asked if he believed the Olympics could yet be cancelled, he said everything is possible right now, and that he thought it would be difficult to make the games safe.

With COVID-19 cases rising, hundreds of thousands of people have signed an online petition calling for the Olympics to be cancelled, and this week Japan's top executives have also voiced their concerns.

[Source: CNN]