Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games

Tokyo has been chosen to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Members of the Olympic International Committee (IOC) chose Tokyo over Istanbul and Madrid at a meeting in Buenos Aires on Saturday. The final result was 60 votes for Tokyo against 36 for Istanbul in the final round.

Tokyo was seen as the front-runner after finishing third in its bid for the 2016 Games, which was won by Rio de Janeiro. Tokyo campaigned with the message “The Olympics will be safe in our hands”.


This will be Tokyo’s second time to host the Olympics after previously hosting it in 1964. It also becomes the first Asian city to host the Olympics twice. Japan has also hosted the Winter Olympics on two occasions, 1972 in Sapporo and 1998 in Nagano.

Crowds in Tokyo erupted into wild cheers when the news was announced in the early hours of Sunday morning. The news was announced at 5:20 am local time with several broadcasters covering the event live. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addressed concerns about the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant during the presentation stage. Princess Takamado became the first member of the Japanese Royal Family to address the IOC, said “The Olympic bid has given young people in the area (Fukushima) something to dream for, the motivation to move forward with courage”.

Hopefully the games will inspire and motivate the nation to achieve great things and will be a further boost to tourism after the March 2011 disaster.

The Tokyo Olympic Games will run from July 24 to August 9 2020. You can follow the latest development on the Tokyo 2020 Official Website