On the Record - Tokyo Governor Battles for 2020 Olympics

(ATR) Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose says he is ready to play a leading role in the campaign of the city for the 2020 Olympics.

Just three months after being elected the political leader of the city, Inose has become a leading figure behind the campaign for the Games launched by his controversial predecessor Shintaro Ishihara.

Inose, a city government official before his election, is known for his work on privatization of government services and calls himself a reformer.

Also proud of his exercise regime, he completed his first Tokyo Marathon in 2012 at age 65. He says the Olympics could help inspire old and young people to follow healthy lifestyles. Inose says he sees the Tokyo bid as a unifying force for Japan as it battles what he calls economic and psychological deflation.

He met with Around the Rings Editor Ed Hula last week as the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2020 Olympics came to the end of its visit to Tokyo. The IOC panel spent four days scrutinizing the Tokyo bid, which it will do later this month in Madrid and Istanbul.

Around the Rings: Are you happy with how it went?

Naoki Inose: It was a fulfilling week. I learned many new things.

ATR: Did you realize you would have an important tole to play in the Tokyo 2020 bid?

NI: Very clearly understood.

ATR: You knew you would have to be a leader?

NI: I saw the London Games last year and that made a very big impression on me. Of course when I ran for office, the will to bid for 2020 was part of my campaign. Officially I became governor on the 18th of December. On the same day I went to the imperial household agency and I consulted with them and urged them that we needed the royal family for the bidding process.

ATR: This is a bid that was closely identified with your predecessaor, Ishihara. How do you make this your Olympic bid and not his?

NI: Four years ago because of the presence of a person named Governor Ishihara who was unique, interesting, probably somewhat eccentric, because of Governor Ishihara we are able to be in this bidding process.

Based on the experience we had four years ago, we are able to sort out and organize our problems and issues. If there was not a preceding bid, we would not be able to identify problems or what we lacked in the initial bid.

ATR: In the years I have covered the Tokyo bids I never talked with Ishihara. You have a different personality than him.

NI: I am a person who is known as a reformer, for improving things. Because of these attributes I am known for, I was able to collect 4.3 million votes, the highest and largest vote in Tokyo history. My campaign pledge was breakthrough, decision and resolution. I think I have ability to implement, the ability to accomplish what I set out to do. For the past four days of the IOC Evaluation Commission visit, I was able to exhibit my powers of implementation.

Now that I have spent several days with the commission, to use the analogy of a marathon, we have just reached the midpoint of this race.

ATR: Ishihara made some provocative statements about China and Korea that some believed were not helpful for the bid. Will you stay away from these kinds of statements?

NI: Firstly, what is most important is Buenos Aires. For Ishihara, everything was important. If I clearly prioritize various agenda items, priorities will be established.

ATR: Olympics is a priority?

NI: Yes. The Japanese economy is in the midst of deflation. Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe is trying to steer the Japanese economy far away from deflation. But to me the most important thing is to steer away from psychological deflation, that mindset. That to me is of paramount importance.

ATR: And the Olympics can take care of that psychological deflation?

NI: Yes. I think there is going to be a clearly set objective for 2020. In order to have economic growth in a mature economy we have to show people how to discover tomorrow. Nowadays young people cannot understand, cannot see a clear objective. So if a target objective of year 2020 is established very clearly, the sport world will be energized and all of the people will be acting towards this objective. We will be acting in unison, as if we were in one body, one mindset.

I’m healthy because I exercise, I do sports. I run 80km a month.

We are going to witness the ageing of the society going forward even further. Currently one trillion yen is spent on medical expenses in this country. So if elderly people become healthy, not to mention the young people getting healthy, then that means decreased medical burdens for the government. Everything will work to the better.

ATR: Why do you think there has been such an increase of public support for Tokyo 2020?

NI: That is because of the fantastic performance of the Japanese team in the London Olympics, winning 38 medals. Half a million lined the parade along the Ginza. It means that once again the Japanese people realized the quality of the Olympic Games.

Last year a public opinion poll showed the rate was only 47 percent. And then because of the London Olympic effect, in September, support has grown to 60 percent. In October and November the support remained at the same rate. Then in December there is an election in December for a national government and new Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Probably in mid-January is when the IOC conducted its poll that shows 70 percent support.

My conjecture is that public support in the midst of the Evaluation Commission visit is in the vicinity of 75 or 80 percent, considering the broad media exposure.

ATR: Finally, could we talk about the one element that still may be missing from the Tokyo bid – why bring the Olympics to Tokyo?You have all the hotels you need. A great transportation system. Compact venues. Why would the Olympics want to come to Tokyo? Istanbul is going to say that we can host the Olympics for the first time. There’s a lot of passion in Istanbul. What will you tell IOC members that will make them feel emotional about Tokyo?

NI: Well, London has hosted the Games three times. Eventually Paris will be hosting a third time. There is always a mixture of first-timers and plural-timers.

As I mentioned in the press conference, according to Samuel Huntington, a professor at Harvard University, in the world there are seven civilizations and Japan is one of them. Japan is neither Orient or Occident. It can be said that Japan can both be Oriental or Occidental. So it is one unique organizational sphere. South America can be one organizational sphere like Islamic world. So the Japanese civilization can stand on equal footing with other civilizations. And I know I have to work further to make even a more effective appeal on this point.

Reported by Ed Hula

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