A ranking of cities under threat from natural disasters, “Mind the Risk” by reinsurance company Swiss Re, has placed Tokyo top of the list. 

The International Olympic Committee nonetheless told HOST CITY that it stands by the findings of its Evaluation Commission, which highlighted Tokyo’s “well thought-out proposals for the successful planning and delivery of security operations, which would deliver safe and secure Games.”

Tokyo successfully dispelled safety concerns during its bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Speaking to IOC members during the bid presentation in September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described Tokyo as “one of the safest cities in the world.”

The IOC on Wednesday reaffirmed its confidence in Tokyo’s ability to respond to potential seismic events. “It goes without saying that we cannot predict natural disasters, but Tokyo is known for having some of the most comprehensive construction practices to help protect buildings against the effects of earthquakes,” an IOC spokesperson told HOST CITY.

“The local authorities are also very well prepared to handle these types of emergency situations and we have complete confidence in them, as the Evaluation Commission noted in its report.”

Matthias Weber, Swiss Re’s Group Chief Underwriting Officer said in the report: “We know from past events that physical prevention measures alone do not suffice to build a resilient city, since damage from the most severe catastrophes cannot be fully averted.

“An important part of resilience is how well urban societies are able to cope with the financial consequences of a disaster, which includes access to the requisite funding for relief, recovery and reconstruction.”

HOST CITY also contacted Tokyo 2020, which was unavailable for comment at time of writing.

Seven of the ten cities found to be at highest risk are in East Asia, due to their combination of high seismic activity and large populations. 

Los Angeles, which is taking steps towards a highly anticipated bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, has the seventh largest number of people at risk of natural disaster, according to the Swiss Re report.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s coordination commission concluded its first visit to Tokyo on Friday, leaving with positive impressions of planning, personnel and infrastructure.

John Coates, chairman of the commission, said at the close of the meeting: “We have been very impressed with what we have seen this week during our visit. 

“The current level of planning; the venue layout; the involvement and integration of the Government authorities at all levels; and the experience and diversity of the new Executive Board all leave us confident in Tokyo’s ability to deliver great Games for the athletes in 2020.”

The IOC delegation also included Vice-Chair Alex Gilady, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli, and Deputy Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi.

From 2 to 4 April, the group participated in the first IOC project review of the Games preparations and were updated on progress made since Tokyo was elected as the host city of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2013.

The IOC executives were introduced to members of the new Tokyo 2020 executive board. The Commission was particularly pleased to see that a number of athletes and women are on the Board, representing the culture and diversity of Japan, the IOC said in a statement.

Coates said: “Since my last visit to Tokyo with IOC president Thomas Bach in November 2013, Tokyo 2020 has successfully undertaken a number of important steps on its seven-year Olympic journey. The establishment of the organising committee, the constitution of its executive board, the creation of a high-level advisory committee, and its participation in the observer programme for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will all enable Tokyo to face the coming six and a half years with a high level of confidence thanks to this quick start.”

The Games organisers presented on a number of topics, including governance, legacy, sustainability, accommodation, finance, commercial matters, engagement, medical, athlete preparation, venues and infrastructure. 

Venue visits

The delegation visited a number of the venue sites, including Yoyogi National Stadium, the Olympic Stadium, Nippon Budokan, Imperial Palace Garden, Tokyo International Forum, Kokugikan Arena, Odaiba Marine Park, Tokyo Big Sight, and viewed the sites of all the other future venues of the Tokyo Bay Zone. 

The venue visit also included a trip to the site of the future Olympic Village, where the delegation was joined by Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe, Olympic champion Koji Murofushi, and a number of young Japanese rowers, including Olympian Haruna Sakakibara, who took part in the London 2012 Games.

Yoshiro Mori, chairman of Tokyo 2020 said: “We have just completed three days of meetings, and I am very pleased that we were able to hold a range of productive discussions. We now have a much clearer understanding of the direction required for us to take to deliver successful Games.”

The first full IOC coordination commission visit to Tokyo will be held from 25 to 27 June 2014. This will be the first of 10 Commission visits to the 2020 host city over its seven-year lifecycle. 

“We will now work towards implementing the action plan that we have formulated together over the past three days, and we look forward to welcoming the members of the IOC Coordination Commission back to Tokyo this summer,” said Mori.

[Source: Tokyo 2020] The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Rugby World Cup 2019 Organising Committee have signed a landmark collaboration agreement in which the two organisations will exchange knowledge and resources to maximise benefits and impacts for their respective events - two of the world’s biggest - being hosted by Japan over the next three years.

The organisers will share their experiences preparing for and managing major sporting events, including security measures, transport infrastructure, venue management, volunteer programmes, and anti-doping programmes.

A signing ceremony to mark the inauguration of the agreement was held on Wednesday (26 April), attended by Toshiro Muto, Tokyo 2020 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Akira Shimazu, CEO, Rugby World Cup 2019 Organising Committee.

John Coates, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and chairman of the IOC Coordination for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020 commented:

“The attention of the sporting world is already focused on Tokyo and Japan as they prepare to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and Olympic Games in 2020. Just as there are many significant opportunities and benefits that will accrue to the host country from these events, there will be synergies and benefits, such as in the training of volunteers, from the two Organising Committees working closely together in the preparation years.”

Bill Beaumont, Chairman of World Rugby commented: “World Rugby welcomes this landmark agreement, which will further boost preparations for two very special major sporting and cultural events. There are many synergies between the hosting of these two events, from technology to venues, and from security arrangements to volunteer training. We look forward to working with all parties to deliver on this opportunity. Rugby is a sport where a strong common vision, shared values and teamwork underpin success and I am sure that this agreement will be great for Rugby World Cup, great for the Olympic Games and great for the people of Japan.”

The organisers expect the agreement between Rugby World Cup 2019 and Tokyo 2020 to maximise the combined legacy of the events for Japan, for the Asian region and for international sport. Improved sporting facilities, as well as enhanced security systems, transport infrastructure and what is hoped will be an emerging volunteer culture will continue to benefit Japanese society long after the two events are over. The events will also aim to renew Japan’s international reputation as an experienced sporting event host.

Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020, believes the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games will provide “valuable experience” in the build-up to Tokyo 2020.

The Olympic Council of Asia’s 8th Asian Winter Games opened at the Sapporo Dome in February featuring five sports, 11 disciplines and 64 events at 12 competition venues.

Mori said: “It is a great honour for Japan to be able to host such a prestigious event as the Asian Winter Games for the fourth time. The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee would like to welcome and wish the best of luck to the athletes from 32 countries and regions who are competing at this birthplace of the Asian Winter Games.

“We would also like to send our best wishes to the organisers who will be able to showcase the best of what Sapporo and Japan have to offer: world-class facilities, a centuries-old culture imbued with a modern and cosmopolitan spirit, as well as a unique Japanese kind of hospitality we call ‘omotenashi’.”

A record 1,200 athletes and 32 National Olympic Committees competed in Sapporo 2017 and Mori added that the logistics behind the Asian Winter Games are important for Tokyo 2020 preparations.

Mori said: “For Tokyo 2020, the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games offers the experts we are engaging in various fields, from transportation to medical services, media operations and venue management, an opportunity to gain valuable experience in advance of the Tokyo 2020 Games.

“For international delegations and sports fans, they also offer a foretaste of the experience that awaits them at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid committee did nothing wrong in making payments to the Black Tidings consulting company during its campaign, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) has concluded after an investigation into allegations of illegal activities.  

The Guardian newspaper in the UK revealed in May that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid committee had made a payment of GB£1m to Black Tidings – a company headed by Singaporean consultant Ian Tan Tong Han.

Tan has since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games been a close associate of Papa Massata Diack, the son of Lamine Diack – who himself resigned from the IOC amid claims that he accepted bribes to cover up positive drugs tests when he was president of the International Association of Athletics Federation.

The payment to Black Tidings, reportedly signed off by JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda, was the subject of an investigation by French police into whether the money was connected to votes in the host city election.

But the report by the JOC, released on Thursday, said there was no evidence that the relationship between the Tokyo 2020 bid committee and Tan was “illegal or invalid under the civil laws or criminal laws of Japan, and there is no doubt that it is lawful”.

The JOC also said the payment did not break French laws or violate any IOC ethical guidelines.

“I believe that Tokyo has been cleared of any suspicion of bribery”, said Yoshihisa Hayakawa, a lawyer who led the three-member panel told the Guardian.

The news comes shortly after the recently elected Yuriko Koike governor of Tokyo hit out against the spiralling cost of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, saying that the plan needs to become sustainable and credible again.

In a video interview with the Wall Street Journal, Koike said: “The budget for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games is currently increasing.

“I think we need to go back to our original plan of sustainability and credibility, and make a plan once again. This is what I have come to believe.”

Since Tokyo won the bid to host the Games, Zaha Hadid’s initial designs for the main stadium have been rejected due to cost concerns. The Games logo also had to be redesigned due to allegations of plagiarism.

And the former Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe resigned in June 2016 over a scandal relating to public funds for personal use.

The new Governor Koike, appointed at the end of July, has highlighted sustainability as an area of focus for the Games. “Spending money does not necessarily lead to improved result,” she said. “The keyword is the three Rs: reduce reuse and recycle.”

The race to host the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games was a tightly fought campaign, right until the allimportant secret ballot in Buenos Aires.

In the first round of voting no clear frontrunner emerged: Tokyo fell just short of a majority, with the remainder of votes split evenly between Istanbul and Madrid. In the run-off round that followed, a slender four vote lead enabled Istanbul to progress to a final round of voting, in which Tokyo garnered 60 votes to Istanbul’s 36. Scenes of jubilation from Japanese delegates ensued. After the initial elation of winning the bid, Tokyo is now faced with the reality of preparing for the biggest event in the world. “It is a huge task to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but it is also an incredible honour as well as extremely exciting,” bid CEO Masato Mizuno tells HOST CITY.

“This post-election phase is a period of transition, during which time we must create the Organising Committee. Our primary job is to now establish the committee in collaboration with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Olympic Committee and the central government. The entire nation, or ‘Team Japan,’ will work together in a unified effort to deliver the Games in 2020.

“Our promise to the IOC is to deliver a superb Games in 2020. Delivering early will allow us to focus on the extras that will make the difference between the Games being good or fantastic.”

Different degrees of risk
IOC Vice-President and IOC member in Great Britain, Sir Craig Reedie chaired the Evaluation Committee that assesses the bid cities’ capacity to hold the Games. “The three cities that remained in the race all put together very coherent and first class candidatures,” he reminds HOST CITY. “The Games could be run in any one of these three cities, but they all presented different projects with different degrees of risk.”

Each city faced its own challenges, from the badly damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan and the plight of the Spanish economy to the Turkish authorities’ reaction to the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul.

“It’s interesting that the questions marks featuring in all of the three cities were issues over which the bid committee had absolutely no control. This is the story of Olympic bids; bid committees have to be able to deal with situations that arise over which they have no control.”

If the promise of opportunities in new regions was the defining feature of Rio and PyeongChang’s winning bids for the 2016 and 2018 Games, this time it was guarantees of stability that would clinch the matter. With Spain floundering in a turbulent global economy and with public protests disrupting Istanbul’s bid, Tokyo was considered to be the safest bet.

The Tokyo 2020 team highlighted the commercial potential of holding the games in Asia and Tokyo’s USD 932m sponsorship revenue forecast. “Tokyo had its funding in place, it had a pretty compact plan using reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay and they benefitted from the fact that they still have a number of the splendid buildings that were built for the 1964 Games,” says Reedie.

The destruction caused by the 2011 tsunami in Japan and the leaks that followed at the Fukushima nuclear plant became a major focus, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tackled head on in Buenos Aires. Describing Tokyo as “one of the safest cities in the world,” Abe told IOC members: “Some may have concerns about Fukushima. Let me assure you, the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.”

At the same time as representing a risk factor, the disaster also created a powerful emotional aspect to the bid. Paralympian Mami Sato, whose home town was devastated by the Tsunami, emphasised the point that sport and the Olympics had the potential to reinvigorate and rebuild Japan following the disaster.

“They were very grateful to the rest of the world for the sympathy and help they had when they suffered the tsunami,” says Reedie. “The IOC contributed to the fund and the Olympic movement rallied round. So to that extent they were grateful and therefore it was emotional.”

Public support was another challenge that Tokyo faced throughout the bid process. “In early 2012, the first IOC figures suggested that only 47 per cent of the population was behind us,” says Mizuno. “We worked intensively to improve support for the Tokyo 2020 Games, and indeed it grew steadily, especially once people celebrated Japan’s medal success at London 2012. A halfmillion spectators turned out to cheer our national heroes during Japan’s first-ever parade for Olympic medallists.

“We were pleased that the IOC survey in March confirmed 70 per cent support and that the most recent figures are around 90 per cent, according to a survey by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.”

Keep it compact
Fifth-time bidder Istanbul was viewed by many as the frontrunner for much of the campaign. But as well as the controversies surrounding the Gezi Park protests and recent doping scandals involving several Turkish athletes, Istanbul’s bid was also hindered by the wide scope of its concept.

“Quite clearly the transportation issue was the one that concerned the Evaluation Commission and there was no doubt, despite claims made, that some venues would involve a considerably longer travel time than some of the other cities,” said Reedie. “The larger amounts of money that were being spent weren’t being spent simply for the Games; they were being spent to keep the city moving.”

Reedie points out that hosting the Games can leave a lasting legacy without the need for the huge amounts of capital spending proposed for Istanbul and seen in London.

“London chose to develop the most deprived part of the capital and that’s been the most wonderful legacy – but it’s not a condition of bidding for the Games. The IOC doesn’t say we need you to spend billions of dollars. It’s your call as a city; and in fact we go out of the way to separate the organising committee budget and the non-organising committee budget. What cities frequently do is use either the bidding for the Games or the winning of the Games as a catalyst to do things they might not otherwise.”

Could you host the Games? 
There can be only one winner, but Reedie says the strength of all three bids and the commitment put into each one is testament to how important the Olympic Games is to cities and nations around the world.

“At the end of the day all three cities presented wonderfully well. It’s not often the IOC is blessed with three Prime Ministers, from three candidates, all coming from the G20 summit in St Petersburg all the way to Buenos Aires to make their presentations. It just gives you some idea of the regard in which hosting the Olympic Games is held and the importance of it to the cities and the countries who support them.”

The newly elected IOC President Thomas Bach recently revealed he wanted a far greater range of countries and cities to bid for future Games. Baku in Azerbaijan and Doha in Qatar were the two other applicant cities that failed to make it to the candidature stage of bidding for 2020 and the likes of Nairobi, Casablanca and Taipei are considering bids for the 2024 Summer Games.

Reedie says the success of London 2012 is stimulating interest the world over. “The Olympic brand and the Games are now at a very high level after the success of the London Games and it would be a very good thing if more cities applied in future years to host summer, winter and youth Games. “There is a feeling out there that you have to spend vast amounts of money to do it; I don’t believe that to be the case. There are many cities with lots of sports facilities which could be used to host the Games.”