pensioners defy virus fears to keep Tokyo Olympics running

TOKYO: Japan has tapped into its famously ageing population to help run the Tokyo Olympics, with pensioner volunteers — some into their 90s — shrugging off fears about the coronavirus to do their bit.

Takashi Kato’s eyes fill with tears as he recalls how, when he was just a small boy, his mother cried when they watched the opening ceremony together the last time the Japanese capital staged the Summer Games, in 1964.

His parents had lived through World War II and Japan hosting those Olympics two decades later signified something for his mother that went beyond sport.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I cannot help…