Tokyo chosen as Japan's candidate to host 2016 Olympics

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Tokyo chosen as Japan's candidate to host 2016 Olympics

The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) on August 30 named Tokyo as Japan's candidate for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. But Tokyo got only 33 votes, fewer than generally expected; its opponent Fukuoka City got 22.

The hosting city will be decided at the International Olympic Committee meeting in 2009.

Although Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro has repeatedly claimed that he will seek "the most compact Olympics in the world," the Tokyo Metropolitan Government seeks to accelerate needless large-scale urban development projects at once by taking advantage of the possibility of hosting Olympics.

The Olympic basic plan the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced in May states that Tokyo will make use of the Games to restructure its city and society, revealing a plan to accelerate road construction including the three capital beltways in the 10 years until 2016.

Contrary to Ishihara's claim, Tokyo will be a wasteful model for the Olympics. It is projected that at least 1 trillion yen will be needed to procure sites for facilities and construct public transport systems and another 6 trillion yen needed to construct major roads. In addition to this, the metropolitan government began to budget 100 billion yen yearly as an Olympic fund.

Despite Ishihara's zeal for hosting the Olympic Games, his government has almost halved its sports budget and closed two out of six Metropolitan-run gymnasiums since FY 2001, worsening the conditions for Tokyo residents to engage in sports activities.

Ishihara's qualification as a governor is also called into question. He has drawn strong criticism for his repeated off-hand remarks such as "Nobody but fools believes in the United Nations Charter" and "French is not qualified to be an international language." He has even openly expressed his contempt for other Asian nations.

Igano Akira, the New Japan Sports Federation's Tokyo Federation chief, questions how such a person who lacks internationally accepted common sense can host the Games in light of the Olympic Charter.

Yoshida Nobuo, JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members Group secretary general, issued on the same day the following statement:

The JCP does not oppose the holding of the Olympics in itself. The JCP, however, has expressed its opposition to Tokyo's hosting of the Games because the hosting is used to justify the large-scale urban development projects, thus obviously detrimental to the living conditions of the residents as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government finance.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government must stop the wasteful large-scale urban development projects and use tax money for improvement of welfare and living conditions as well as sports conditions that ordinary residents can make use of.
- Akahata, August 31, 2006