OLYMPICS-TOKYO/IOC-VENUES IOC officials visit Japan for second time to meet Chiba governor

Record ID: 148845

  • Title: OLYMPICS-TOKYO/IOC-VENUES IOC officials visit Japan for second time to meet Chiba governor
  • Date: 30th June 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) GOVERNOR OF CHIBA PREFECTURE, KENSAKU MORITA, SAYING: "(Having) any internal disagreements isn't good. If it's a building that will represent Japan, I want , as a citizen of Japan, to have a great building erected and I want them to plan accordingly on how it will be used afterwards." MORITA WALKING AWAY FROM INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4EL3O53N51QZPWXKD1Q81G67A
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Governor of Chiba prefecture met on Tuesday (June 30) to look at one of the venues for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
    Marking the second official visit by the IOC to Japan, Chiba Governor Kensaku Morita shook hands and smiled for photographers with IOC Vice President John Coates, before both IOC officials and Japanese government officials stood for a group photo.
    Makuhari Messe, a convention center outside of Tokyo where the two officials met, will be one of the venues during the 2020 Summer Games.
    The IOC's visit comes soon after Japan finalized a new Olympic Stadium's budget, which will cost more than $2 billion to build, nearly twice the original estimate, and be completed two months later than first thought.
    The new stadium, which will replace a now-destroyed venue built for the 1964 Summer Games, has been beset by woes including sky rocketing costs, feuding over funding and criticism of the design as too grandiose for its intended site.
    When asked by a journalist about the issues surrounding the new stadium, Morita said he was not in a position to comment, but that internal disagreements were certainly not good.
    "That topic was never brought up by IOC officials. I have talked to Governor Masuzoe, but I think Tokyo has its reasons so I don't think it's for me to comment," Morita said.
    "(Having) any internal disagreements isn't good. If it's a building that will represent Japan, I want, as a citizen of Japan, to have a great building erected and I want them to plan accordingly on how it will be used afterwards," he added.
    Tokyo won its bid for the 2020 Summer Games in 2013, beating Istanbul in a head-to-head vote after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a charismatic plea to the IOC.
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