| It's no one's idea of an Olympic dream. As the hours tick down to the Tokyo opening ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga might be forgiven for wishing he could wake up from what feels more like a nightmare. Faced with an impossible dilemma, Suga forged ahead with plans for the global sports spectacle, already delayed by a year amid the worst pandemic in a century. The result is that corporate sponsors are distancing themselves, most foreign leaders are staying away and now even the opening ceremony is in jeopardy after its director was fired at the last minute over a decades-old video of him joking about the Holocaust. With tens of thousands of athletes and officials from around the world already in the country and the International Olympic Committee determined to secure the broadcasting fees that keep sporting federations ticking over, officials aren't talking about a cancellation. And yet, however inspiring their performances, the athletes are unlikely to distract voters in Japan from their problems ahead of a general election due within about four months. Covid-19 is spreading across Japan at its fastest rate in months and the capital is bracing for what experts say may be the biggest surge in cases since the pandemic began. With less than a quarter of the population fully vaccinated, that could put hospitals under fresh strain. Even as he cheers on Team Japan, for Suga — the 72-year-old son of a strawberry farmer — the most important race of the coming weeks is likely to be the one between the contagious delta variant and Japan's delayed immunization program. — Isabel Reynolds  A closed ticket office during an opening round women's football match between the U.S. and Sweden yesterday. Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg Click here to follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. | 
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