٠٠:٠٣:٢٥Buses full of schoolchildren were seen arriving at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Wednesday, to attend events of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The project, known as the 'School Joint Watching Project,' aims to bring thousands of students to watch the competitions in person after spectators were banned from attending the Paralympic Games as they were for the Olympics earlier in the summer.
Backed by Tokyo 2020 and the government of the Japanese capital, the project has been scaled back as some prefectures and individual schools are opting out of sending children to the games amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan.
"I feel that it is a bit out of sync with the government's policy, and I don't think it will really prevent infectious diseases if adults are not allowed, but only children are allowed. I think that if they are going to do no spectators, they need to do it thoroughly," said Kazuma Ogi, a Tokyo 2020 volunteer.
According to the Chiba prefecture, a total of 23,317 students and teachers from 199 elementary, junior high, and high schools in seven cities and towns across Chiba are set to participate in the project. Local sources say the young audience in the prefecture should decline to a third after some schools dropped out of the programme.
The state of emergency remains high in several areas of the country, as Japan registered over 4,000 new coronavirus cases solely on Tuesday.
The Paralympics opened on Tuesday and will run through September 5.
Japan: Tokyo 2020 brings thousands of schoolchildren to watch Paralympics amid spectator ban
Buses full of schoolchildren were seen arriving at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Wednesday, to attend events of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The project, known as the 'School Joint Watching Project,' aims to bring thousands of students to watch the competitions in person after spectators were banned from attending the Paralympic Games as they were for the Olympics earlier in the summer.
Backed by Tokyo 2020 and the government of the Japanese capital, the project has been scaled back as some prefectures and individual schools are opting out of sending children to the games amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan.
"I feel that it is a bit out of sync with the government's policy, and I don't think it will really prevent infectious diseases if adults are not allowed, but only children are allowed. I think that if they are going to do no spectators, they need to do it thoroughly," said Kazuma Ogi, a Tokyo 2020 volunteer.
According to the Chiba prefecture, a total of 23,317 students and teachers from 199 elementary, junior high, and high schools in seven cities and towns across Chiba are set to participate in the project. Local sources say the young audience in the prefecture should decline to a third after some schools dropped out of the programme.
The state of emergency remains high in several areas of the country, as Japan registered over 4,000 new coronavirus cases solely on Tuesday.
The Paralympics opened on Tuesday and will run through September 5.
Buses full of schoolchildren were seen arriving at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, Wednesday, to attend events of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The project, known as the 'School Joint Watching Project,' aims to bring thousands of students to watch the competitions in person after spectators were banned from attending the Paralympic Games as they were for the Olympics earlier in the summer.
Backed by Tokyo 2020 and the government of the Japanese capital, the project has been scaled back as some prefectures and individual schools are opting out of sending children to the games amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan.
"I feel that it is a bit out of sync with the government's policy, and I don't think it will really prevent infectious diseases if adults are not allowed, but only children are allowed. I think that if they are going to do no spectators, they need to do it thoroughly," said Kazuma Ogi, a Tokyo 2020 volunteer.
According to the Chiba prefecture, a total of 23,317 students and teachers from 199 elementary, junior high, and high schools in seven cities and towns across Chiba are set to participate in the project. Local sources say the young audience in the prefecture should decline to a third after some schools dropped out of the programme.
The state of emergency remains high in several areas of the country, as Japan registered over 4,000 new coronavirus cases solely on Tuesday.
The Paralympics opened on Tuesday and will run through September 5.