With Thursday’s news that Japan will be able to vaccinate its Olympic and Paralympic teams, the Japanese government and its sports bodies cheered and raised a finger to indicate that the nation’s athletes are indeed No. 1 in the hearts of those who matter, Japan’s politicians and monied grifters.

The vaccines will enable the 1,000 Olympians and Paralympians and their 1,500 coaches to be vaccinated in time for the start of the Olympics — due to officially open on July 23.

Yet Japan, the nation that likes to boast it invented efficiency and quality control, is not even scheduled to vaccinate its 30 million senior citizens until the end of July.

This means the Olympic and Paralympic athletes are No. 1, and that the finger being raised by those in charge to indicate the athletes’ special status is at the same time a middle finger to the rest of Japan’s residents.

The Tokyo Olympic motto: Faster, stronger, deadlier.

The message to the population is as clear as can be:

“We’ve procured the Olympics for you with your tax money. What else do you want? Don’t you know the Olympics are for the good of Japan? We’d like to tell the residents of Japan that we appreciate you sacrificing your wealth and your health for the national good, but frankly, the Olympics are a once-in-a-generation thing and you’re a bunch of suckers, so fuck off.”

If Japan’s citizens and their health are actually more important than the Olympics, then the vaccines received in May should be turned over to the government so that 2,500 elderly can be vaccinated earlier, and perhaps save some of their lives.

Otherwise, the Tokyo Olympics meant to show the world what Japan is capable of and what a warm and hospitable nation it is, will show the world Japan’s true colors — that in the big picture, the well-being of ordinary citizens doesn’t matter.