All roads — blocked off roads — lead to Tokyo Olympics

He said reporters’ phones could be tracked with GPS to see if rules had been broken.

“We can use the GPS and if they’re going to places outside the business destinations, that will become very apparent,” he said. “After 14 days they can engage in the normal media activity and coverage.”

He did not clarify if the strict tracking will apply to tens of thousands of others who will enter Japan for the Olympics and Paralympics, including IOC officials, officials of national Olympic committees and sports federations, broadcasters, and others arriving to work as contractors at the games.

Pushback against the Olympics remains strong with 50-80% opposed to the games going ahead depending how the question is phrased. Saitama prefecture, just north of Tokyo, on Monday called off plans for two public viewing areas.

Kaori Yamaguchi, an Olympic bronze medalist for Japan in judo in 1988 and a Japanese Olympic Committee board member, wrote last week that Tokyo and Japan had been “cornered” into holding the Olympics.

The IOC is pressing ahead, reliant on broadcast rights for 73% of its income.

Japan has officially spent $15.4 billion to organize the Olympics, and government audits say it’s much larger. All but $6.7 billion is private money. The IOC’s overall contribution is about $1.5 billion.