JCP votes against Diet resolutions in favor of Tokyo's bid to host 2016 Olympic Games

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP votes against Diet resolutions in favor of Tokyo's bid to host 2016 Olympic Games

The Japanese Communist Party voted against resolutions in support of Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games in both houses of the Diet.

The House of Representatives and the House of Councilors adopted the resolutions on March 18 and 19 by a majority vote of the Liberal Democratic, Democratic, Komei, and People's New parties. The Social Democratic Party also voted against the resolutions.

Although the JCP is in favor of the further growth of the Olympic movement if it contributes to increasing international friendship through sports, it is necessary to take into account Tokyo's financial situation and residents' opinions regarding the bid to host the Olympic Games.

Emphasizing that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's most important task is to protect people's living standards and jobs and provide better social welfare services, the JCP criticized Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro for planning to squander more than 9 trillion yen in tax money on 2016 Olympic Games-related purposes.

According to the metropolitan government plan, the cost for public relations regarding the bidding activity alone will reach 15 billion yen by October, three times more than the initial estimate.

In addition, the cost for the construction of Olympic facilities is estimated at more than a trillion yen because the announced figure of 240 billion yen does not include the cost for land acquisition and disaster prevention measures.

A huge sum of tax money will be spent on expressway construction projects carried out under the pretext of improvements for the Olympics. Among the proposed projects is a beltway construction project that will cost an estimated four trillion yen.

- Akahata, March 18, 2009