Guidelines for the Olympics Participants
The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics events are slated to run from July 23 to September 5, 2021. As part of the corona infection preventive measures, during the period of Olympics games, the Tokyo metropolitan area will remain under a state of emergency which begins on July 12 through August 22. Following the measures announced by the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Archdiocese of Tokyo has issued advisory letter for churches under its jurisdiction. The advisory letter includes the following directives:
…For the past years, the Tokyo Archdiocese had originally been considering preparations so that each parish may be able to address the spiritual needs of the many people who would come to Japan for this international event. However, we have decided to cancel all plans and thus, will not take any special involvement in the Olympics and Paralympics. In addition, all those who will be coming to the Tokyo Metropolitan area during this period will be provided with information concerning the precautionary measures implemented against COVID-19 infection in the parishes and will be requested to refrain from visiting churches….”
(From the advisory letter issued by Archbishop Tarcisio Kikuchi Isao, SVD. For the full text of the letter please visit the link: https://tokyo.catholic.jp/english/information/42500/)
Keeping in line with these directives from the archdiocese, our parish(St. Ignatius, Kojimachi) has issued the following guidelines:
- People who are not registered members of St. Ignatius parish are kindly requested to refrain from visiting the parish during the emergency period(July 12~August 22).
- Those who want to attend Mass, but have not registered as parishioners, including the Olympics participants (athletes/officials/press members from abroad) are kindly requested to JOIN OUR ONLINE MASS livestreamed on every Sunday in four languages.
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Our online Masses are available in the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Zwcc_MbnyglsQdyOByc-Q
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Following is the time schedule of online Masses on Sundays in various languages at St.Ignatius, Kojimachi, Tokyo (all Mass timings in JST):
- 10:00: Japanese
- 12:00: English
- 13:30: Spanish
- 15:00: Vietnamese
We thank you for your kind cooperation with the aforementioned guidelines. Our parish community will keep praying for all the participants through the days of Olympics and Paralympics events. We wish you all a blessed and fruitful time in Tokyo!