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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2021

AFGHAN PERILSFIGHTING CRIMEAND STRAY DOGSPAGE 3 | WORLD

WINE EXPERTREMEMBERINGSTEVEN SPURRIERPAGE 15 | LIVING

MORE SUSTAINABLEFARMED FISH TRANSITIONTO VEGETARIAN DIETSPAGE 5 | BUSINESS

From the moment that Japan pitched tohost the 2020 Olympic Games, its organ-izers have framed it as a symbol of re-covery: from a decades-long economicslump, from a devastating earthquake,tsunami and nuclear disaster and, aftera year’s postponement, from a cripplingpandemic.

Now, as the organizers press aheadwith plans to hold the Tokyo Olympicsthis summer, the event itself threatensto become a trial from which Japan maytake years to recover.

A series of health, economic and polit-ical challenges have besieged theGames. Even as the organizers decidedlast week to ban international specta-tors, epidemiologists warned that theOlympics could become a super-spreader event. Thousands of athletesand other participants will descend onTokyo from more than 200 countries,while much of the Japanese public re-mains unvaccinated.

The financial hazards are also signifi-cant — the Olympic budget has swollento a record $15.4 billion, increasing bynearly $3 billion in the past year aloneand adding to longstanding doubtsabout whether Olympic Games pay offfor host nations. And the Tokyo organ-izing committee has been swamped byleadership chaos, with both the presi-

dent and the creative director resigningin the past month after making sexist re-marks.

Through it all, the fundamentally un-democratic nature of Olympic decisionmaking has grown only more glaring.The Olympic torch relay began onThursday, and with the opening ceremo-ny scheduled for July 23, Japan’s gov-

ernment is defying the wishes of muchof the public. In polls, close to 80 percentsay the Games should be postponedagain or canceled outright.

“I don’t know any reason for why youwould go out to watch these OlympicGames,” said Hyoung Min Yoo, 29, whoworks in finance in Tokyo. He had se-cured coveted tickets to swimming andtrack and field finals but now has no in-terest in getting anywhere near theOlympic stadium or aquatics center. “Iwish they could postpone the Olympicsto the next next time,” he said.

In the telling of the Olympic organ-izers, staging the Games this summer issomething close to a moral imperative.The president of the Tokyo organizingcommittee, Seiko Hashimoto, recentlycited the “significant challenges” facingthe world and the responsibility of theOlympics “to build a legacy for the fu-ture society.”

But money, national pride and politi-cal obduracy are also in play.

The International Olympic Commit-tee, which is sustained largely by sellingbroadcasting rights, stands to lose per-haps even more than Japan if the eventis canceled. Already, the I.O.C. hasstruggled to entice bidders for futureOlympic Games, as cities have decidedto avoid the hassle and the cost.

In an effort to give itself breathing OLYMPICS, PAGE 12

Are the Games truly cursed?The Japanese women’s soccer team that won the 2011 World Cup started the Olympic torch relay Thursday in Fukushima Prefecture, site of the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.

POOL PHOTO BY PHILIP FONG

TOKYO

Tokyo Olympic organizerspress ahead, seeing symbolof recovery from disasters

BY MOTOKO RICH AND HIKARI HIDA

Waiting for the Olympic torch relay on Thursday in Naraha, a town in Fukushima nearthe nuclear plant where three reactors melted down after the tsunami.

ISSEI KATO/REUTERS

“I am not the quintessential image of aharpist,” said Brandee Younger, 37, aclassically trained harpist, composerand educator. Ms. Younger, who lives inthe Harlem neighborhood of New York,smiled as she enumerated the commonstereotypes for the stringed instrument.“You’re blond, your eyes are blue . . . lit-tle naked baby angels,” she said, joking.“It’s just so not down to earth.”

Bringing the harp to the masses hasbeen a central goal of Ms. Younger’s ca-reer. Her jazz-infused compositionshave been featured on works by pop andR&B’s most recognizable names, includ-ing Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, John Leg-end and Lauryn Hill.

For centuries, the harp has beenlodged in the domain of “serious” music— a niche instrument, perhaps dustedoff for weddings and bottomless mimosabrunches. With such an entrenched rep-utation, could the harp ever be hip?

It’s not without precedent. The singerLizzo gave the flute a boost back in 2018when she declared on Instagram “HOAND FLUTE ARE LIFE.” Videos of hertwerking while flawlessly tooting rapmelodies quickly went viral, challengingstereotypical connotations of the flute asan instrument of purity and innocence.

Thanks to a collection of emerging in-dependent artists and social media mu-sicians, the harp is also finding a new au-dience. And the instrument is turning upin some unexpected places, includingPornHub video soundtracks and heavilyengaged TikTok posts.

Ms. Younger’s love affair with the in-strument began when she was a girlgrowing up in the suburban enclave of HARPS, PAGE 2

An instrument of angelssheds its virtuous image

Madison Calley’s social media videos of herself playing pop and R&B on her harp haveled to performances at the Grammys and the Latin Grammys.

RIKKI D WRIGHT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The high-minded harpfinds new champions in unexpected musical genres

BY ALEXIS GARCIA

The New York Times publishes opinionfrom a wide range of perspectives inhopes of promoting constructive debateabout consequential questions.

In a jungle in the borderlands of Myan-mar, the troops sweated through basictraining. They learned how to load a ri-fle, pull the pin of a hand grenade andassemble a firebomb.

These cadets are not members ofMyanmar’s military, which seizedpower last month and quickly imposed abattlefield brutality on the country’spopulace. Instead, they are an eclecticcorps of students, activists and ordinaryoffice workers who believe that fightingback is the only way to defeat one of theworld’s most ruthless armed forces.

“I see the military as wild animalswho can’t think and are brutal with theirweapons,” said a woman from Yangon,Myanmar’s biggest city, who was now inthe forest for a week of boot camp. Likeothers who have joined the armed strug-gle, she did not want her name pub-lished for fear that the Tatmadaw, as theMyanmar military is known, would tar-get her.

“We have to attack them back,” shesaid. “This sounds aggressive, but I be-lieve we have to defend ourselves.”

After weeks of peaceful protests, thefrontline of Myanmar’s resistance to theFeb. 1 coup is mobilizing into a kind ofguerrilla force. In the cities, protestershave built barricades to protect neigh-borhoods from military incursions andlearned how to make smoke bombs onthe internet. In the forests, they aretraining in basic warfare techniques andplotting to sabotage military-linked fa-cilities.

The boldness and desperation of thisnew front recalls the radicalization of aprevious generation of democracy ac-tivists in Myanmar, who traded treatiseson political philosophy for guns. As inthe past, the hard-line opposition is a de-fensive response to the military’smounting reign of terror. The Tatmadawhas cracked down on peaceful pro-testers and unarmed bystanders alike,killing at least 275 people since the coup,according to a monitoring group.

Other forms of resistance have con-tinued in Myanmar. A mass civil disobe-dience campaign has idled the economy,with a nationwide strike on Wednesdayleaving towns devoid of business activi-ty. In creative acts of defiance, pro-testers have lined up rows of stuffed ani-mals and origami cranes as stand-ins fordemonstrators who could get shot.

But there is a growing recognitionthat such efforts may not be enough,that the Tatmadaw needs to be coun-tered on its own terms. Last week, rem-nants of the ousted Parliament, whoconsider themselves the legitimate gov-ernment, said that a “revolution” wasneeded to save the country. They havecalled for the formation of a federal MYANMAR, PAGE 2

Resistance is takingup arms in MyanmarWith the military killingcivilians, the protesterssay they have no choice

BY HANNAH BEECH

I handled this past pandemic yearworse than most people I know. Notbecause I had it harder, obviously; myfamily was insulated by all sorts ofprivilege. But emotionally, I more or lessfell apart.

Unlike my friends and acquaintances,I developed no new domestic skills orhobbies. If there were silver linings, Iwas too mired in hysterical grief for myold life to appreciate them. Knowinghow little I’d lost compared to othersdidn’t lessen my misery, it just added aslimy coating of shame to it.

Frantic for an escape hatch, I startedapplying to vaccine trials last year, andwas accepted into the Johnson & John-

son one. Sometimeswhen I mention thispeople have thankedme, but there wasnothing really altruis-tic about it. I’m de-lighted to haveplayed a minusculepart in the develop-ment of a vaccine, butto me, any risk in-volved paled besidethe possibility of

getting immunity early.When I got a shot at my first appoint-

ment in December, I felt somethingclose to ecstasy, but the next day itcurdled into despair. In a sort of reversehypochondria, I scanned my bodyhoping to feel any ghostly twinge of aside effect, but there was nothing. I waspretty sure I’d gotten a placebo.

Since then, of course, Johnson &Johnson’s single-shot vaccine has re-ceived emergency authorization. Likethe two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vac-cines, it appears to be highly protectiveagainst hospitalization and death fromCovid-19. But because the Johnson &Johnson trial showed lower efficacy inpreventing symptomatic Covid, there’sa fairly widespread perception that it’sinferior to the other vaccines.

In its trial, the Pfizer vaccine’s effica-cy was about 95 percent. Moderna’s wasmore than 94 percent. Johnson & John-son measured its results differently, butits efficacy was 85 percent againstsevere disease and 66 percent whenfactoring in more moderate cases.Public health experts are telling mostpeople to take whatever shot is offered,but the vaccines are clearly not all thesame.

My shotwas a ticketout of hell

OPINION

Some peopleare balking atthe one-shotJohnson& Johnsonvaccine, butI was thrilledto get it.

GOLDBERG, PAGE 9

Michelle Goldberg

A new Opinion podcast about power.

nytimes.com/sway

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