Tokyo 2020, Or Not

If you want an ominous news photo in this age of fear, threat, and perpetual entertainment, try this one on.

The caption below doesn’t come out and say it, but one of the largest losses from the coronavirus could be the cancellation of this summer’s Olympic games. In terms of what photographs do, this split view of tourists above and the city below projects us five months into the future. That view not only sharpens our imagination of a pandemic, but also the civic implications for both Japan and the world. With hyper-nationalism splitting countries, races, and ethnicities apart, losing this international ritual would be still another blow to humanity.

-Michael Shaw⠀
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Photo: Athit Perawongmetha @ReutersPictures.⠀
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Caption: The new Olympic National Stadium is seen as people wearing protective masks are reflected at the Shibuya sky observation deck, following an outbreak of the coronavirus in Tokyo, Japan, February 24.

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