Madrid was eliminated in the first round of vote (though tied with Istanbul and needed the vote for tie-breaker).
Istanbul was eliminated in the final vote. The vote tally, according to Asahi, was 60 to 36.
I'm more curious to know why Madrid and Istanbul lost, rather than why Tokyo won.
The UK's Telegraph commented the choice was about "least bad". Some may disagree and ask if that was the case why Madrid was eliminated in the initial round (the country didn't suffer a nuclear accident, and it is far away from Syria).
Move on to the next vote, this time in the US Congress on Syria, which may come as soon as Monday.
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戦争の経済学
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戦争の経済学
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28 comments:
Believable, but sad.
LOL
I was betting for Istanbul. They paid 7-1 and I do not see any reason why events in 2013 had to influence 2020 (it's a long way to go). Istanbul is a cool city, especially if we foresee that Erdogan won't be around by 2020. However works in the city often go at snail pace because of the extremely rich archaeological underground it has.
Spanish media were at noon all expectant and convinced that Madrid had to win, considering the problems facing the rivals. I admit I'm a bit surprised about the choice of such a dangerous place as Tokyo, although I imagine these decisions work by bribing the judges, right?
I won't be going or watching.
That has to be the dumbest decision ever by the IOC.
Will Tokyo be habitable in 2020?
Will athletes want to take the risk of breathing Fuk"d up air, drinking Fuk'd up water and eating Fuk'd up food.
Ditto for those who would attend.
And where pray tell are they going to hold the water events...Tokyo harbour?
I guess the IOC are convinced that Japan will manage the games as efficiently as they dealt with the baseless rumours of Fukushima Daichi.
I don't watch the Olympics but I can only hope that this will be something the international community can use to push the Japanese government to clean up it's act in regards to north eastern Japan and Fukushima. Now all eyes will be on Japan for sure till 2020.
I especially hope some good money goes into quickly improving roads and infrastructure in the Tokyo area because it's the same ancient stuff that was there for the last Olympics and it's congested and faling apart.
I could be wrong but this is the worst thing that could happen, given that the Olympics is just a huge corruption fest that puts tax money into the pockets of the giant organized crime construction firms. Abe is the kingpin of the gang, and now that the sales tax is going to increase that can go to pay off those gangster companies, the same ones that botched the decontamination job in Fukushima to get big bucks, while pushing out more competent, and reasonably priced competitors.
Secondly, this will give Japan and the Media six years to salivate and drool
in a narcissistic orgy of self congratulation about how wonderful the Japanese people are, and how they can overcome any crisis (given every one cough up the needed doe). It will actually draw attention away from Fukushima, which is obvious given all the dire reports of ongoing radioactive pollution and the "international community" does not think it is anything serious to worry about, on with the fun!
Another big rip off and scam, hardly a surprise, the show must go on....
Eel caught in Tokyo's Edogawa River was over the official cesium contamination threshold. The Edogawa runs right through the Tokyo Olympic site.
http://news24.jp/articles/2013/06/07/07230064.html
NHK reported Tokyo Bay will be contaminated with 4,000 bq/kg of cesium by next year.
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/raymiyatake/e/9b0a0a253fdc823766ef5b98b7524c2b
Let the games begin!
I'm shocked. I thought for sure Chernobyl was going to win this time.
"it has never done, and will never do and damage to Tokyo", Abe. Let's see about that in about 2 years, which is about the time when Chenobyl cancers started...
At lteast 336,000 people are expected to die, and 5 million refuges will be created in government estimates for the widely expected Nankai Earthquake. Major roads will be closed, so people will be trapped.
And don't expect any emergency announcements in English, for the athletes or spectators.
Great decision.
Oh and there is Mt Fuji. That stop air and rail transport for sure...
This is bad news for Japan, indeed. The japanese government will now repeat ad nauseam that IOC's choice of Tokyo is the proof there is no problem of radioactivity.
There is hope they will discredit themselves, though. With such a gain of too much self-confidence, you can expect that some members of the government will suggest to hold some events, as the marathon, in Fukushima prefecture. Or feed all the athletes with food from Fukushima.
They need money for the Fuku cleanup. Stupid people that go to olympic events will pay, not the nuke industry.
Now it will become complicated which substances in the athletes' blood or urine will be allowed and which will not.
Madrid cannot print money. European and american big banks are after big printing. By 2020 a larger chunk of Japanese debt will be foreign held. It is party time in Tokyo until 2020! Like for Fukushima there will be a financial reckoning day sooner or later in form of a japanese state bankruptcy.
Not fair! Japanese athletes will have the advantage of having grown extra appendages by 2020.
Obviously the Japanese don't understand what a gamble they just cast.
I think it is a fortunate outcome for bringing the world's attention to the nuclear disaster, and may be the opportunity needed to kill nuclear once and for all.
Unfortunately, I think it will likely destroy the success of the Olympic games - however as stated above, they've become so commercialized that it's not a great loss.
By the time the advanced promotion crews hit the ground in 2018 or so, the mass sickness from radiation will likely be unmistakable. The crews will be on the ground for long enough that it will be obvious that a cancer epidemic has broken out. They will quickly begin to notice the illness of their Tokyo hosts - because the illness will be prevalent in the very people they are assigned to work with, and may even break out among their own crew.
The government will be in a tremendous balancing act - promoting the upcoming event, while covering up all evidence of the by then massive radiation problem. And those who are trying to administer the propaganda will be themselves dropping off like flies - while all the world's media is on-hand to document it.
If the truth gets out and if my speculation is correct they will not be able to contain the truth by then; media, athletes, coaches and fans will then avoid the Olympic games in droves - leading to more media coverage for radiation.
If the anti-nukes have any organization and smarts, they will be preparing to take full advantage of this tremendous opportunity.
James
Very disappointed to hear Tokyo got the olympics: I am afraid that this will only mean more of my taxes into new concrete boxes. No need to mention that Tokyo is NOT planning to repair and bring back in good shape the facilities that were built for the previous Tokyo olympics which are now a little rundown: no, it will have to be fresh concrete.
Good old LDP, I did not miss you at all; now even less.
@ Anon 4:37 PM,
"Eel caught in Tokyo's Edogawa River was over the official cesium contamination threshold. The Edogawa runs right through the Tokyo Olympic site."
Nice. Perhaps fearful of swimming amongst eels the festive Olympics-goers will visit nearby Tokyo Disneyland,
"Tokyo Disneyland is located on landfill adjacent to a diverted branch of the Edo River known as the Kyū Edo River which empties into Tokyo Bay .. ",
and later, perhaps an invigorating swim in Tokyo's Okutama Reservoir for an equally energetic cesium boost.
Tokyo's Cesium Bay is a third, least-advisable option.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edogawa_River
About traveling and living in Japan, Tokyo included, many people outside Japan thinks that "if it's good for the Japanese, it's good for us". Many not of course but a lot of people do think like that (and if they later die of cancer they blame smoking, genetic risk or whatever else, not Fukushima nor Chernobyl nor the nuke plant outside their door). So as long as they can conceal the effects, hide them somehow, most athletes (who are largely, to put it mildly, of limited curiosity and zero social compromise), will fall in the radioactive trap smiling and proud.
They are probably more worried about being stolen their Rolex and that's what Tokyo offered to the Olympic committee: a well tamed populace (and maybe a thick envelop as well). They probably think that in the World are five continents: the USA, NW Europe, Japan, Australia and the Third World. The Third World already got their Rio Olympics in 2016, so it was time to try some other continent, a rich one.
I heard the International Olympic Committee will soon replace the gold, silver, and bronze medals with the cesium, strontium, and tritium medals. They last longer and glows more ;)
You forgot about plutonium. It will be the first place medal.
It is as if the 1988 Olympics were held in Kiev instead of Seoul. The "special Japanese elites" (featured by the like of Shinzo Abe and Naoki Inose)
made the unimaginable dream come true. It is yet another proof that the world we are living in now is a crazy one, filled with pure insanity and wrapped with blatant denial - in the Japanese way.
Many amusing comments above.
This is exactly as I predicted. It will be entertaining to see the long term effects of the radiation on the world's greatest athletes.
I'm looking forward to seeing what explanation they cook up for that. "They were stressed, so it's expected."
@Hikarius
"Filled with pure and insaity wrapped with blatant denial" sounds more American than Japanese to me, but whatever.
My impression of the Japanese is that they know what's going on, but they don't feel they can do anything to stop it, so they just give up.
My impression of the Americans (and some other Western nations) is that they simply don't care what's going on, and believe themselves to be invulnerable and unstoppable.
Perhaps that's more akin to how Japan was before they lost the war. If I'm not mistaken, they believed that they were chosen and led by the "God of the Sun". It's like that with America and their current "God".
People like to believe they are "special" like that.
Goddess, Sun Goddess Amateratsu: in Japanese tradition the Sun is female, and the Moon male, quite unlike the Indoeuroepean one.
Any way you look at it Japan thinks it is special and its people special. And so it shall be although not for the self-admiring reason they think.
Japan, land of the rising sun, is the "chosen one" by destiny that stops impending disaster that threatens all life, saves the world from evil villians, and stop corruption. Yadda, yadda, yadda...cliche used in fantasies.
@Anon 12:31 AM
Please correct me if I am wrong, but my gut feeling tells me that maybe you can understand Japanese language =P
Japanese philosopher and historian Saburo Ienaga had written a book entitled "Logic of Denial in Philosophy History of Japan." I really wish I would have been able to have it with me now and read it again thoroughly before digging anything deeper about the mentality of Japanese people.
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