A year after winning Olympics, Tokyo faces hurdles in move from bid to build
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18 Comments
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11
titaniumdioxide
It's not yet too late. Give the stupid sporting event to Istanbul.
11
MarkX
This article makes me so angry! Everything they told the IOC was a lie. The games should be stripped and given to Istanbul, or Madrid, or back to London, I don't care, but not Tokyo. The comment where they said the costs will rise by 50 percent because they didn't predict the higher costs due to the rebuilding of the Tohoku area is also a lie. their damn campaign was based on helping to rebuild Tohoku! And as for the sales tax increase, the law had been passed, and it was just a matter of when it would be implemented. Any decent business person would factor those extra costs in. For years Montreal was one the most expensive and most corrupt games ever, but I think these 2020 games will easily beat those games. I would like to see Crystal Takikawa explain her "omtonashii" comment now to the Japanese people, now that they are being completely ripped off!
5
jerseyboy
Come on. The bidding happened last year -- 2013. The earthquake/tsunami happened in 2011. If the cost of re-building was not factored into their construction budgets, then that was compelete incompetence, or outright fraud. In either case, it should not be rewarded. Second, more than a doubling of costs in one year is simply unbelievable. Abe and the pitch were a fraud.
3
lostrune2
It's the new M.O. now with international sports bidding ever since Beijing - promise the bidding committee the moon, then if necessary, make changes after winning the bid.
4
papigiulio
sounds like a usual election.
But can anyone be really surprised? Look at Tohoku, still people living in prefab homes.
3
dcog9065
Well, the construction industry has always been one of the dodgiest and corrupt industries of each country, I'm not surprised they're cartelising for the Olympic construction tenders
2
GW
Yep, Japan has committed fraud on an unprecedented scale, and that's saying something for a country where corruption & fraud are build right into all levels of govt!
2
cnc
'MarkX', you are right and it only goes to prove that there weren't any business-men involved in the team who put together the initial proposal, only bureaucrats from the Tokyo municipality office. Who as everyone is aware, like to put even their manga expenses onto the taxpayer,
1
smithinjapan
"But construction and labor costs have soared due to rebuilding after a March 11, 2011, tsunami, and a rise in consumption tax from 5 to 8% this April was not factored in to budgets, a Tokyo government official said."
Sorry, but ZERO sympathy, particularly given that the JOL and other politicians used the disasters of March 11, 2011, as a reason why Japan should get the Olympics, 'forgetting' to factor in already increased costs in labor and construction when presenting their bid as a 'cheap, compact games', and having already more or less decided on the tax hike.
4
wtfjapan
problems startiing to arise and they havent event started building yet. typical JGov promises, always some clauses or excuses attached after its given
5
Scrote
I'd like to know how "soaring" construction and labour costs have more than doubled the estimated cost of building the venues. Have construction worker salaries doubled? No. Have material costs doubled? No. So what are we left with: either there is excessive bid rigging and corruption, or the initial cost estimates were nonsense. The government refuse to reveal the figures used to derive the initial estimate so that's probably the main reason, with bid rigging coming a close second.
3
gogogo
Obviously Japan pulled out all guns in the BS department, won and now actually has to do what it said it was going to do.
3
el
This is not especially new. Apparently there's a saying in Olympic circles that the "Olympic candidature documents are the greatest novel you will ever read." And this article didn't even get into Fukushima being "under control."
1
SenseNotSoCommon
All mouth, no trousers.
4
Kazuaki Shimazaki
My personal recommendation to the Olympics people is - hold Tokyo to its promises, regardless of costs. Commitments are commitments. Maybe that will teach them that a commitment means just that (according to some books aboout Japanese negotiators, that sense is still a bit weak among Japanese).
0
hampton
Mr. Abe never tells the truth about anything. You can tell when he's fibbing; his lips move.
1
Disillusioned
So, Japan lied to get the games, they are struggling to find the cash for it, and the have to move the venues, which was their main platform if being able to have the games close to the athlete's residents.
0
Open Minded
I do not care. OGs are a costly PR event, not a sport one. And happy my country invests its money in education, children daycare and research instead of that!
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