TOKYO (NYTIMES, AFP) - US First Lady Jill Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have arrived in Japan for the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, the world's largest sporting event, which has been overshadowed and shackled by the pandemic.
They are among a handful of of foreign dignitaries in town for the opening ceremony on Friday (July 23) after organisers stripped back the usually lavish affair and limited attendance. Only around 950 people will be in the stands.
Mr Macron and Mrs Biden are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who will also be receiving the heads of state from other nations such as Mongolia and Poland at the State Guest House in the Motoakasaka district of Tokyo from Thursday to Saturday, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
Bound by Covid-19 rules that cut the size of foreign delegations, Mr Macron arrived in Tokyo on Friday with only a single minister.
Covid-19 infections in Japan, fuelled by the contagious Delta variant, hit a six-month high on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
Mr Macron's two-day trip will include a reception with Emperor Naruhito before the opening ceremony.
Paris will host the next edition of the Summer Games in 2024, and Mr Macron's meetings in Tokyo will include talks with International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.
In his meeting with Mr Suga on Saturday, Mr Macron is expected to discuss the situation in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of growing maritime and military pressure from China, as well as bilateral economic ties.
Mr Macron is also planning to raise the issue of parental abduction in Japan, which does not offer joint custody for children in cases of divorce or separation.
The subject has been in the headlines since a French father in Tokyo began a hunger strike to win access to his children, who he says were abducted by their Japanese mother.
Mr Vincent Fichot has not seen his two children in nearly three years and began a hunger strike outside the Olympic Stadium on July 10.
The French President will also get a taste of Olympic sport during his brief trip, with stops at the judo and women's 3x3 basketball competitions.
First overseas trip alone
Mrs Biden flew into Yokota Air Base near Tokyo on Thursday night. There, she was met by a Japanese diplomatic delegation before heading in a motorcade to the Akasaka Palace for a scheduled dinner with Mr Suga and his wife, Mariko Suga.
This was Mrs Biden's first international trip alone as First Lady. She will be in Japan for two days.
Mrs Biden, who also led a scaled-back US delegation, was scheduled to meet Mrs Suga at the palace on Friday morning, followed by a "virtual get-together" with members of the United States Olympic team and culminating with her attendance at the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium.
Mrs Biden's role in Tokyo is a familiar one for a political spouse who was often expected to project warmth and enthusiasm on behalf of her husband during a 2020 campaign in which public events, if staged at all, were sanitised and socially distanced.
The organisers of this year's Games have banned alcohol in the venues, strictly limited attendance at most events and imposed other restrictions on the behaviour of fans to limit the spread of the virus.
Late on Wednesday, during a refuelling stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, en route to Japan, Mrs Biden made an impassioned plea for Alaskans to get vaccinated to save lives and speed the return to normality.
"Even as we celebrate the progress we've made, we know that this last push is the hardest of all," Mrs Biden said.
"Recently, a woman came up to me to thank me for the work our administration has done to get shots in arms," she added. "She fought back tears when she told me that she lost four family members to Covid-19 last year. Four."
