Four days before the opening ceremony, Japan’s pandemic has reached crisis levels again with a fresh wave of infections

There will be a sense of the familiar when the Paralympics begin on Tuesday. Senior Games officials, including the International Paralympic Committee president, Andrew Parsons, and a returning Thomas Bach will witness the start of the second instalment of the most controversial Games in recent history. In his role as honorary patron, Japan’s emperor, Naruhito, will again get to his feet to declare the event officially open at a near-empty national stadium in Tokyo.

But less than a month after the delayed 2020 Olympics ended in sporting success for the home country and repeated claims by government and organisers that they had passed off “safely and securely”, the Japan preparing to greet 4,400 Paralympians will be very different from the one that reluctantly welcomed the “Olympic family” in late July.

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