| Outside Japan, there may still be some doubt about whether the upcoming Olympic Games will go ahead amid the persistent threat of Covid-19 and its worrisome delta variant that public-health experts warn could fuel a superspreader event. To those of us in Tokyo keeping close track of the day-to-day developments, however, the question of cancellation has long passed. Instead, the debate has for a while revolved around small details that could decide whether Covid-19 can be controlled among the 78,000-plus worldwide participants expected to converge in the Japanese capital. For a long time, that minutiae was condoms. Many wondered how organizers were going to subject athletes to pages of virus-control rules such as no socializing and no dining together, but at the same time stick to plans to hand out 150,000 condoms during the games. In the end, the condom plan was pulled in favor of the idea to distribute them only when athletes depart Japan as a souvenir.  A protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games. Photographer: Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images AsiaPac The next vice for debate was alcohol. For most of May and June, restaurants and bars in areas under a state of emergency were asked not to serve alcohol in an effort to suppress virus infections, which experts said often happened when people took off masks to drink and eat together. Knowing that, would spectators be allowed to buy alcohol at the games? And would Olympians be allowed to have alcohol in the Athlete's Village? The decision was split: no alcohol at venues, but OK'ed for the Athlete's Village—where there would now be no condoms. There was also a mild kerfuffle over Uber Eats—a report said the International Olympic Committee made a request for the Athlete's Village to take Uber Eats delivery, because Olympians may not want to eat in the dining facilities as a precaution. But some officials worried—what if some athletes used the service to order large amounts of alcohol to drink in their rooms? Infection control is always complicated, and maybe never more so than during the pandemic Olympics, where one move to ease some infection concerns will prompt wariness from other stakeholders. Now, it increasingly looks like the biggest issue may not be inside the Athlete's Village (where a majority are expected to be fully vaccinated, compared with around 15% of the Japanese population) or whatever mobile bubble is created around the legions of foreign media or support staff that will be in Japan, but rather outside of it. The question of domestic spectators has now been thrust onto the debate stage, as a new state of emergency in Tokyo is set to be declared from July 12 to August 22—covering the entire period of the Olympics—on concerns about rising new infection numbers and the spread of the delta variant in the capital. The declaration could mean that some game venues have no domestic spectators, despite an earlier decision to have them capped at 10,000 fans. Many of us in Tokyo have simply concluded that "We won't know until it happens." The games kick off in roughly two weeks on July 23.—Lisa Du | 
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