Japan contemplating bid for Summer Olympics 2020
The Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) announced recently that they will know in a few weeks time whether Tokyo will be bidding for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The news about the decision was relayed by the president of the JOC, Tsunekazu Takeda.
Takeda broke the news by stating, "We expect a decision will be in late June or early July. Tokyo had a great plan for 2016, and has excellent financing."
According to Takeda, if Tokyo gets the approval to host the Summer Olympics then the economy of the country will benefit greatly. The hosting of such a big international event would mean that the city would have to come up with the required accommodations
for the participating teams as well as the spectators that would be flying in from various parts of the world. Not only that, Tokyo would have to make its infrastructure up to the mark in order to cater to such a huge influx of people. In Takeda’s view, the
Summer Olympics project would go a long way in the reconstruction process that is left to be addressed in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in March.
Japan had also bid for the 2016 Olympics but was not successful in sealing the deal. Instead, the winner of the bid was Rio de Janeiro.
Despite the fact that Takeda is an ardent supporter of Tokyo bidding for the Summer Olympics, he realizes that it is in the hands of the Tokyo metropolitan government. Takeda’s view is supported by the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, who also wants
to see the city play host to the games. However, some metropolitan bureaucrats do not support the idea. In order for Tokyo to make the bid, approval needs to be obtained from the city assembly.
There is some opposition behind the bidding idea because a lot of money was lost while making the 2016 bid. The $176 million was not the only loss that the city incurred. It also had to suffer criticism at the cost of Ishihara as he gave statements regarding
the usage of unfair means by Rio de Janeiro to win the bid.
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