Japan’s reputation as a safe, democratic nation and its fortitude in the face of a major challenge – as demonstrated by the rebuilding which took place after the tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster – has landed it the honour of hosting the Olympic Games.

Tokyo’s winning bid received 60 votes to Istanbul’s 36 in the final round of voting by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 125th IOC sessions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September. Madrid had been eliminated in the first round, after losing a tie-breaker with Istanbul. It’s thought civil unrest in Istanbul cost the city the bid, with IOC committee members nervous that the Games could be disrupted by protests – a largely unheard of problem in Japan.

Centre stage
The main venue of the 2020 Games will be Tokyo’s National Olympic Stadium – built originally for the 1964 Games – which will be demolished and rebuilt in a US$1bn scheme designed by London-based architect Zaha Hadid. The project will be completed in time for the venue to host games during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. 

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), stressed the importance to the IOC of ensuring the 2020 Games is of the highest quality, saying: "Tokyo presented a very strong technical bid from the outset – and it needed to in competition with such high-calibre bids from Istanbul and Madrid. All three cities were capable of staging excellent Games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo’s bid that resonated the most with the IOC committee. We believe Tokyo will deliver a well-organised, safe Games that will reinforce Olympic values, while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation, by inviting us to 'discover tomorrow’.”

Building it up
Tokyo’s organising committee has budgeted US$10bn for the Games, including the cost of constructing venues and improving transport infrastructure. 

Tokyo last hosted the Summer Games in 1964. At that time, it signalled its rebirth as a modern city after the destruction caused by World War II. Japan’s economy has been suffering from deflation for 15 years and government debt has increased to more than twice the size of its US$6tn economy, in part because of the costs of caring for the country’s elderly population. Analysts believe one of the main challenges for the government will be justifying the expense of the Games. 

However, since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power late last year and adopted more bold monetary and government reforms, Japan has become the fastest-growing country in the G7. 

Nomura Securities’ chief strategist Hiromichi Tamura, in a report published earlier this year, said the 2020 Olympics is likely to add about US$14bn to Japan’s economy. Although this is a lower percentage of GDP than the country got from its previous three Olympics: the Summer Games in Tokyo in 1964, and the Winter Games in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998, hosting the 2020 Games will bring other benefits. Tamura said the win will fuel consumer confidence and spending, which is the missing part of the puzzle in Japan’s economic recovery. 

“If the government’s growth strategies go according to plan, the benefits should be obvious to everyone by 2020”, he said. “In the same way that the 1964 Tokyo Olympics showed that Japan had entered the ranks of modern industrialised nations, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could show that Japan is back.” 

Double header
Tokyo’s success in winning both the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games makes this the second Olympic Games to be awarded in tandem with another major sporting event, following the double being tackled by Rio de Janeiro, which hosts the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.