(ATR) The former Prime Minister of Japan acknowledges Tokyo 2020 won't get far without strong Japanese support.
The leaders of Tokyo’s bid to host the Olympics in 2020 insist that they will be working hard to improve public support.
At the Tokyo 2020 press conference during the London Olympics, bid CEO Masato Mizuno was joined by a contingent including former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, new IOC member and president of the Japanese Olympic Committee Tsunekazu Takeda and seven-time Olympian Seiko Hashimoto.
While Mori was bullish about governmental support, he conceded that public support needed improvement.
An IOC poll in May found public support for the bid at 47 percent.
"The Tokyo 2020 council and this organization will be participating people in every walks of life in Japan to make progress" he said. "For example agricultural people or farmers, singers, drivers of the trains; all these people will be aware we are trying very hard... to invite the Olympics."
"Of course we are very aware we won’t do a good job without the nation’s support - that is why we are putting the effort in. We have to do these preparations very early so the people will catch up."
Part of Tokyo 2020’s charm offensive on its citizens is its reinvention with the new logo: "Discover Tomorrow".
A key part of the city--and bid--vision, is the construction of a new all-purpose national stadium in Tokyo.
They recently released an advertisement calling on architects around the world to submit design proposals to create the new arena that Mizuno confirmed would be built regardless of if Tokyo host the 2020 Games.
"We have the 2019 Rugby World Cup so it will be used for that," he said.
"But we really hope to use it for 2020."
Mizuno also added that while in London, the bid team would "watch", "listen" and "learn" from every single matter that they can. "All this information will then be fed into the candidate file to make sure we will deliver our absolute vision."
The three 2020 bid cities are allowed to host one press conference during the Games. Madrid went on Thursday, while Istanbul is yet to have one.
Written and reported in London by Christian Radnedge
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