In a stunning but foreshadowed move, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced late Tuesday night that Japan had reached an agreement with International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games to be postponed until next summer at the latest as the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold.
Abe said he had "reconfirmed" with Bach that the games would not be canceled and that two had agreed "100 percent" to hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics "by the summer of 2021 at the latest."
The announcement, which came after Abe's call with Bach, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori and Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto, means the games will be postponed for the first time ever during peacetime.