Tokyo Wins Bid to Host 2020 Olympics
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by Eiken× The University Times7 News in English 英文記事を読んでみよう This month’s selections from The Japan Times Tokyo wins bid to host 2020 Olympics Buenos Aires nounced Tokyo as the winner of the race to KYoDo host the sporting extravaganza. Tokyo was chosen as the “safe pair of “I thought that Tokyo could win,” said hands” to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose said. “But you face on Sept. 7, beating Istanbul and Madrid in the reality of having to make sure you can voting during the International Olympic come across the finish in first. It’s exhilarat- Committee’s general session in Buenos ing, just like being an Olympic athlete. We Aires. could win because of our teamwork, the The Japanese capital will be the first prime minister, the athletes, and everyone Last appeal: Among the members of the Tokyo 2020 Bid Committee who spoke during the final presentation on Sept. 7 in Buenos Aires are (from top left) Princess Hisako, Asian city to host the Olympics twice, hav- coming together.” Paralympic long jumper Mami Sato, Japanese Olympic Committee President ing also hosted the 1964 Games. Japan will “I have waited so many years to experi- Tsunekazu Takeda, Tokyo 2020 CEO Masato Mizuno, (from bottom left) Tokyo Gov. be hosting its fourth Olympics. Sapporo ence this joy. It is an honor to be picked as Naoki Inose, Tokyo 2020 bid ambassador Christel Takigawa, Olympic fencer Yuki Ota and Nagano hosted the 1972 and 1998 Win- the host city,” added Japanese Olympic and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. KYODO ter Games, respectively. Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda, ter. problems as well as a civil war in neigh- In a secret ballot by IOC members, Tokyo the Tokyo bid chief. Takeda, Japan’s lone IOC member, tout- boring Syria. beat Istanbul 60-36 in the final round to de- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe touched on ed Japan’s clean anti-doping record in “I think they learned their lessons from cide the host city after Madrid was elimi- the Fukushima problem in Tokyo’s final stark contrast with the city’s bid rivals that the first time (bidding for 2016),” said Ma- nated in the first round. While it did not presentation and said the government have come under fire in recent months for laysian IOC member Prince Tunku Imran. garner the majority of votes in the first would never put Tokyo in harm’s way, say- doping violations by athletes of their coun- “They performed very well today. Mr. Abe round, Tokyo had 42 votes, the most among ing, “The situation is under control. Tokyo tries. gave all the right answers. I think it (Fuku- the three cities. 2020 will offer guaranteed delivery.” With its high-quality infrastructure and shima) was an issue, but I think Prime Min- Istanbul defeated Madrid 49-45 in a tie- “My heart was pumping (before the an- transportation networks, and a government ister Abe gave a very good answer and we break vote after each receiving 26 votes. nouncement) and I am so happy,” said reserve fund of ¥400 billion, Tokyo deliv- were all satisfied.” Tokyo overcame fears of the dangers of Abe. “We will respond to the expectations ered the message in the run-up to the host The 2020 Tokyo Games will take place radiation-contaminated water from the Fu- and support by holding a successful Olym- city selection that it is the “safest, reliable” from July 24 to Aug. 9. kushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, crip- pics. I think we conveyed the message that city to deliver the Games. “You could see the commitment they pled by the March 2011 earthquake-tsuna- we can hold a safe Olympics.” Tokyo was making its second straight bid made, and now the pressure is on because mi disaster, about 250 km northeast of Abe had stressed at the presentation that after losing the 2016 race that went to Rio all of the plans have to come true,” said IOC Tokyo, to win the vote. It also pressed home the radiation leak has been blocked within de Janeiro. Istanbul was making its fifth member Anita DeFrantz of the United the message of using the Olympics as a the port at the Fukushima complex under overall bid, while Madrid was trying for the States. “The federations want to make sure force in its reconstruction efforts from the constant monitoring. third time in a row. that the plans for their sports come true as disaster. “We want you (IOC members) to not “This is the starting line for us,” said authored.” “We are confident our Japanese friends focus on the headlines from newspapers swimmer Ryosuke Irie, a silver and bronze John Coates, an IOC member from Aus- will be able to provide excellent Games. but the facts,” Abe said as he addressed a medalist at the 2012 London Games. “We tralia, said Tokyo told a fabulous story, even They are the safe pair of hands they de- question on the Fukushima crisis following want to have a great performance in the in the face of the Fukushima crisis. scribe,” said IOC President Jacques his speech. next Olympics (in 2016) so we can make the “I thought it (the presentation) was very Rogge. “They will provide secure Games, “It is well within the quality of drinkable 2020 Games our best ever.” well done. I’ve been a chef de mission six well organized with the welfare of the water posed in the WHO (World Health Or- Tokyo entered the IOC session in the times, for me (the bid) is all about the quali- athletes in mind. I’m quite sure Tokyo ganization) guidelines,” he said. Argentine capital as the favorite but had ty of the village, the proximity of the venues 2020 will put the athletes at the center of Princess Hisako, the widow of Prince to overcome the contaminated-water to the village, good transport; it’s going to the Games.” Takamado, conveyed in her presentation issue. Madrid faced a challenge of coping be so easy to get around.” Members of the Japanese delegation speech a message of thanks for the IOC’s with its long-slumping economy, while About 85 percent of the venues will be in hugged and wept with joy as Rogge an- support for children affected by the disas- Istanbul’s bid was marred by doping an 8-km radius of the Athletes Village. Teens held in mugging needed cash for AKB48 garb Tomohiro osaki Two of the youths, both 17, were arrest- depending on how “intricate and big you sTAFF WriTer ed that day. The other two, both 15, were want the icons to be,” he said on the condi- Four teenage boys were arrested earlier taken in a week later, the police said. tion of anonymity. in August for allegedly robbing and injur- According to media reports, one of the Tokkofuku used to mainly be sought ing a man on a Tokyo street because they 17-year-olds planned the mugging. He after by bosozoku (biker gangs) interested needed cash to buy custom-made outfits confessed that the teens carried out the as- in intimidation. But when the police start- to wear in a handshaking event involving sault to get money to buy the tokkofuku ed a crackdown on their lot, the bikers ba- Left to right: Yuko Oshima, Rino Sashihara and Mayu Watanabe pose June 8 after the pop idol group AKB48, police said uniforms embroidered with names of their sically shunned such attire to keep a lower being selected as the top three members Aug. 26. favorite AKB48 members. profile, the clerk said. of pop idol group AKB48 and its sister The boys, all from Saitama Prefecture, Literally translated as a “special attack Nowadays, tokkofuku are mainly sold to groups in an election at a stadium in approached the victim, a 27-year-old grad- uniform,” tokkofuku refers to attire em- hard-core fans of certain bands or celebri- Yokohama. KYODO uate student, in Kita Ward, Tokyo, on Aug. broidered with huge bellicose images, in- ties, he said. Typically they have the names “These fans are really desperate to get 11, grabbed him by the shoulder and de- cluding dragons, as well as poetry. of their favorite artists stitched onto the the attention of the people they idolize,” manded cash. When contacted by The Japan Times, a outfits in the hopes of getting noticed. the clerk said, giving his take on the four ar- The youths fled the scene with the man’s shop clerk at a popular tokkofuku manu- Along with AKB48, singer Namie Amuro, rested teens. “By wearing tokkofuku, with mobile phone and other belongings, slight- facturer in western Japan said each uni- Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and punk rock band the name of their favorite member on it, ly injuring the victim in the process. form costs an average of ¥50,000 to ¥60,000 Kishidan have many such idolizers. they’re trying to show their love.”.