Tokyo:Around 500 foreign volunteers may be allowed to come to the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer under special entry regulations and help with the organization of the games, local media reported on Monday.
While organisers ruled over the weekend that foreign fans would not be able to attend the games due to the coronavirus restrictions, the Japanese authorities will make an exception for approximately 500 people with specific skills who could help in running the Olympic Games, the Kyodo news agency reported citing its own sources.
According to the organizers, 10 percent of the 80,000 people who initially applied to be volunteers for the games were foreigners. People whose roles can not be performed by someone living in Japan will be selected from a pool of roughly 2,000 volunteers living overseas. Such specialist volunteers include, for instance, language experts.
The Tokyo Olympic Games were meant to be hosted by Japan last summer, but due to the pandemic, they had to be postponed and will now take place this year, from July 23 to August 8.(UNI)