Sizing Up The 2016 Candidates At A Glance: Tokyo
By Kate Gardiner in Miscellaneous on Sep 29, 2009 5:00PM
This week, as we prepare for Friday's announcement of the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, we'll feature a quick look at each city's proposed venues and bid. Today, we check out Tokyo. Previously: Chicago.
History
Tokyo has previously been awarded the Summer Olympics twice: 1940 and 1964. The 1940 Summer Olympics were moved to Helsinki after Japan invaded China (those Olympics were later canceled). The 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics marked the first time the Olympics were held in Asia; the city was showcasing its post-war redevelopment when it beat out bids from Detroit, Brussels and Vienna, and it was given five years to prepare. Overall, Japan has hosted three Olympic Games: the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the Winter Olympics in Sapporo (1972) and Nagano (1998).
Bid cost
Tokyo 2016 claimed that the cost of the bid would be 5.5.billion yen (roughly $50 million USD); 1.5 billion yen was to be provided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government "for the preparation of the Candidature File and for the IOC application fee," and the rest provided by the private sector. There's been controversy, though, over items such as the Waterworks Bureau's decision to double its 2009 budget over last year and use some of that money for advertising the city's bid.
Proposed Games Cost
The exact cost has been hard to pin down. Tokyo 2016 originally estimated the cost at 300 billion yen. ($2.8 billion USD). However, in an interview with Reuters this week, Tokyo 2016 bid chief Ichiro Kono said: “Tokyo 2016 has a realistic OCOG (Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) budget of $3.1 billion, which is fully guaranteed by both the Japanese national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG). The TMG has the largest budget of any city in the world, and has already set aside and banked $4 billion for Tokyo 2016’s non-OCOG budget, which comprises development of competition venues and Games-related infrastructure.”
Tokyo has also proposed $708 million in sponsorship and revenue, which places the city second only to Chicago ($1.83 billion), ahead of Madrid ($659 million) and Rio de Janeiro ($579 million).
Venues
All of Tokyo's Olympic structures, with the exception of the shooting venue and the preliminary football (soccer) fields are within a five-mile radius of the central Olympic site. Several of the venues were purpose-built for the 1964 Olympics and would be called into service again. Tokyo 2016 officials wrote that 23 of the 34 venues required already exist, and the city owns almost all of the land required to make its plan work. The Olympic Village would be purpose-built, according to sustainable guidelines.
Preexisting, No Permanent Work Required
Yoyogi National Stadium (1964); Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium; Kasumigaoka National Stadium; Tokyo International Forum; Dream Island Stadium; Kokugikan Arena; Ohi Racecourse; Asaka Shooting Range; Tokyo Stadium (Chofu); Sapporo Dome; Saitama Stadium; International Stadium Yokohama; Osaka Nagai Stadium
Preexisting, Permanent Work Required
Ariake Tennis Park; Nippon Budokan; Tatsumi International Swimming Centre; Dream Island Archery Field; Youth Plaza; Seaside Park Hockey Stadium
New (Permanent)
Olympic Stadium; Yoyogi Park Arena; Sea Forest Waterway; Kasai Slalom Course; Wakasu Olympic Marina.
New (Temporary)
Odaiba Marine Park; Shiokaze Park; Imperial Palace Garden; Sea Forest Cross-Country course; Sea Forest Cycle Sports Course; Seaside Park Velodrome
Pros
Tokyo has 19 subway lines making travel times efficient and 70 percent of the events would be within 10 minutes of the Olympic Village...More than 34 million people call metro Tokyo home, making it the largest city bidding for this round of the Games and the city boasts a large number - 124,000 - of hotel rooms for accommodations...Many of the structures it built for the 1964 Games are still in use and would be repurposed for this bid...The new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama will join represent the bid in Copenhagen...Japan recently had success with a large-scale sporting event, co-hosting the 2002 World Cup with South Korea...As mentioned before, Japan has successfully hosted three previous Olympics, putting it second among the four potential host countries in terms of hosting experience. Tokyo is also the only 2016 candidate city to have previously hosted an Olympics...Tokyo is promoting the "green" and "compact" aspects of its bid...According to the bid book, since the 1964 Games, the Japanese have become "adept at managing large crowds ... [and] developing strong volunteer participation."
Cons
Proximity to Beijing, the host of 2008 Summer Olympics, is seen as a major obstacle for Tokyo's bid...The mood of the general population of Tokyo towards the bid has been described as "apathetic"...The age of many of the city's venues - 52 years old come 2016 - gave committee members pause during their evaluations of the bidding cities this year.