We almost always want to drop our life savings on a round-trip Olympic vacation whenever a future location is announced, but this time, we're really serious. The International Olympic Committee voted yesterday to host the 2020 summer games in Tokyo, and we're already starting to save up.
Japan's previous bid for the 2016 games wasn't met with much enthusiasm, but this time, the national capital beat out Istanbul by 24 votes in the final round. Madrid was also in the running, but lost out early on. The Guardian reports that some 2,000 enthusiasts gathered to celebrate the announcement around Komazawa Stadium, built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Issues with the Fukushima power plant threatened Japan's bid over the last few days, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reassured voters that the situation at the plant is under control and "it has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo."
Japan has hosted the Olympics three times in the past, once in aforementioned Tokyo, as well as in Sapporo and Nagano. But this upcoming event promises to be bigger and better than ever. Work is already underway to complete an 80,000-seat stadium by 2019, and as is generally the case when a country wins an Olympic bid, the government hopes to see an economic boon from the influx of a predicted 8.5-million visitors. Bonzai! (The Guardian)
Image: Via The Guardian.