But you know, they sponsored Paris gamesOh for sure, I won't kid myself pretending this is has never been political since ages.
But both the Government and the Organizing Committee can't get offended when some people, companies and institutions in general. decide this is not for them. It's a gamble to take, they win or lose it (and mostly, they won).
If I had to guess, in the case of Panasonic and Toyota, it's possibly due to the wider Japanese society being less sensitive (not saying insensitive) to that kind of message. Not saying it's good or bad, just that it does influence how they viewed the organizing.
.. I doubt Milan and LA games will be quite sending the same messages.. So I find it funny that people believe that Paris opening ceremonies are responsible alone for those sponsors to step out when the sponsors would be working with completely.differemt contexts for the next games and could even negotiate deals with them including what their wishes are (less politics/more athletes..)
To me it is simpler : money