Baseball and soccer, Japan’s two most popular sports, were the first to reopen to spectators today.

Officials in charge of the Tokyo Olympics said they will closely monitor the return of fans to stadiums as they work to reorganize the 2020 Games next year.

Hours before the first game began, baseball fans gathered at the 30,000-capacity Zozo Marine Stadium in the city of Makuhari, just east of Tokyo.

`The atmosphere is so different. When you watch the game at the stadium, the excitement and enthusiasm you feel is completely different,` said Lions Tetsuya Osako, 36, a baseball fan who often comes to watch.

Japanese fans gather at the stadium in Okayama city today.

However, the atmosphere at the Japanese stadium is now very different from when Covid-19 had not yet broken out.

`For those who believe that the experience of watching baseball should begin with a sip of cold beer and screaming loudly for your favorite player, difficult days may still lie ahead. I want to be here for those days

The Japanese government plans to continue to relax restrictions to prevent Covid-19 from August 1 and stadiums will then be allowed to fill half of the seats.

Officials have tried to downplay fears of a second wave of Covid-19, saying new infections come mainly from young people, concentrated in clusters in Tokyo’s nightlife areas.

Many baseball fans said they have great confidence in anti-infection measures here.

`I always come here to cheer for my team, but today I think I’m very interested in the sound of hitting and catching the ball,` Fukai shared.

Covid-19 has appeared in more than 210 countries and territories, causing more than 12.4 million infections, more than 558,000 deaths and more than 7.2 million recoveries.