Tokyo has been selected to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee. The committee voted on Saturday in Buenos Aires and picked Tokyo over Madrid and Istanbul.
In 1964 Tokyo hosted the summer games. "Japan's bid for 2020 billed the city as the safe choice -- despite radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe personally made a presentation to the committee and promised an effective cleanup," reported CNN.
Abe said to reporters after the announcement, "I am so happy, I am overjoyed. I would like to share this joy with the people back home. We've received so much support from the people of the IOC and I would also like to express my support to them. And to the people around the world.
"A safe and secure Olympic Games will be staged by us -- I think that was another hope for their support. I would like to pledge that we will be discharging this responsibility."
"These Games can be a turning point for Japan," venture capitalist Yoshito Hori said to The Washington Post "As a nation, we tend to underestimate ourselves - and we've lost confidence. This can be a chance to regain it."
Tokyo won over Istanbul by a vote of 60-36 after Mdrid was eliminated the first round. Istanbul has never hosted an Olympics game and has pursued the Olympics for the fifth time.
"The bid could have been hindered, in the minds of some of the IOC members, by the current strife in Syria, which borders Turkey to the south," reported The Washington Post.
Hours before the vote, Abe spoke in Buenos Aires about the Fukushima plant leakage and said that it was "under control" and that it "will never do any damage to Tokyo," reported The Washington Post.
"Tokyo 2020 will offer guaranteed delivery," Abe said according to The Washington Post.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
