Prime Minister Abe celebrates the announcement of the successful Olympic bid.
With Tokyo being selected as the host city for the 2020 Olympic games, internet users from all over Japan shared their joy.
But while most were in celebration mode, others cautioned that Japan should use this as a chance to speed up the recovery of disaster-affected areas such as Fukushima, and deal with its nuclear issues.
From Yahoo! Japan:
2020 Olympics To Be Held In Tokyo; 2nd Time in 56 Years
[Buenos Aires, Fujino Tomonari] On September 7, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held its general meeting in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, where Tokyo was selected as the host city for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is the 2nd time since 1964, therefore the second time in 56 years, that the Olympics has been held in Tokyo. Including the Winter Olympics held in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998, this is will be Japan’s fourth time hosting the Olympic Games.
The three cities nominated to host the 2020 Olympic games were Tokyo, Madrid (Spain) and Istanbul (Turkey). In the general meeting on September 7, after each city had given its final presentation, voting was held between around 100 members of the IOC. In the first round of voting, Tokyo went through in first place with 42 votes. Madrid and Istanbul drew in last place with 26 votes, and in the re-vote Istanbul took 49 votes, while Madrid was knocked out with 45 votes. Then, the deciding vote between Tokyo and Istanbul was held, with Tokyo gaining 60 votes to Istanbul’s 36. In a presentation ceremony at 5pm [around 5am on the morning of September 8 JST], committee chairman Jacques Rogge announced the name “Tokyo”.
The games will be held between July 24 and August 9, 2020. The Paralympic games will be held between August 25 and September 6. The newly rebuilt National Olympic Stadium will be the main stage, and most of the competition facilities will be positioned within 8km of the athletes’ village, which is to be created in Harumi, Chuo Ward. Competitions will also be held in locations such as the Nippon Budokan, the same places that were used in the 1964 Olympics.
Tokyo had also previously nominated in the bid for the 2016 Olympic games, but was eliminated. Ishihara Shintaro, who at the time was Mayor of Tokyo, decided that Tokyo would compete again for the 2020 games, and his successor Mayor Inose Naoki carried this forward, leading activities related to the bid. From reflecting on the previous bid, in which a coalition between various spheres had been lacking, this time bid activities that were not only related to the sports world, but also to the national and economic spheres were added at an early stage, and each of these worked together to promote Tokyo.
◇Words From Prime Minister Abe
“I was really excited. I’m truly happy. I want to share this happiness with all the citizens of Japan. Tokyo promised that it would be able to spread and convey the true spirit of the Olympics, and was able to impress the members of the IOC. Tokyo will be able to hold a safe and reliable Olympics.”
◇Voting Results◇
First Round
Tokyo 42
Istanbul 26
Madrid 26
Decider for last place
Istanbul 49
Madrid 45
→ Madrid excluded
Deciding vote
Tokyo 60
Istanbul 36
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
嫌韓 七生報国:
Congratulations Japan.
The people of Japan are looking forward to being able to watch the actions of Japanese athletes so close to home.
And let the government take this as an opportunity to really get serious about the recovery of areas affected by disasters, and put a stop to nuclear incidents.
Let’s endeavour to make Japan a country that can hold its head up high in front of the rest of the world.
mik*****:
There will probably be problems along the way,
and we’ll probably get some harassment, but
now that it has been decided,
I really want Japan to be able to succeed in impressing the rest of the world.
物書きになりたいな…@ll:
Congrats Japan!!!
xxy*****:
So happy that Korean boycott has been decided ♪
sin*****:
Congratulations!
Back to Tokyo after 56 years.
Let’s all set the mood for the Olympics!
ivi*****:
Tokyo! Tokyo!
To all those who put all their efforts into the bid:
Congratulations. You did a great job!
Comments from 2ch.net:
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
And there it is ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
WE DID ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
YEAH ━━━━━━（≧∀≦）ノ━━━━━━！！！！！
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
YEAH━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━( ﾟ∀)━( ﾟ)━( )━( )━(ﾟ )━(∀ﾟ )━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━!!
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
Cried my eyes out!
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
I’m not really bothered about where the Olympics is held, but the moment the decision was announced I shouted out and got goosebumps! w
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
Aww, and I wanted to see the Olympics abroad, too!
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
There are various advantages and disadvantages to holding the Olympics, but it’s not something you always get to see in your lifetime, so I’m overjoyed.
名無しさん＠恐縮です：
Hah, Korea’s negative campaign had no effect.
Comments from Twitter:
モリーゾ・キコッロ:
I’m not anti-Japan or anything, but I have doubts about Abe’s words.
じんぼ:
I’m genuinely happy. Seems like there are various opinions though.
小宮 京:
I’m not really interested in where the Olympics are held, but it would be great that if, because of this, Japan would put a bit more effort into its policies regarding nuclear safety, I mean, that’s my honest feeling (゜_゜)
korita:
Originally, I was against the bid, but now it’s been decided I genuinely want to celebrate. In 7 years’ time, I want to welcome the people who come to visit Japan with a smile on my face.
hiroaki:
I still can’t believe it. Can it be for real…?
syokotan711:
Shouldn’t they be prioritizing the recovery of Fukushima over this?
Definite rise in taxes for the Olympics.
フルムリともたん:
I was expecting it to be Istanbul — guess I was wrong (^_^;)!!
Anyway, I’m glad that they decided on Tokyo 〜☆彡
