Tokyo gets the vote to host 2020 Summer Olympics

Japanese swimmers, Ai Shibata (front 3rd R) and Junichi Miyashita (front 2nd R), Japanese weight lifter Hiromi Miyake (front L), Japanese wrestler Saori Yoshidda (front 3rd L) and other participants celebrate after Tokyo was named for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Buenos Aires during the live streaming event in Tokyo. (Getty Images)

“Konnichiwa”

The 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the rights to the Japanese capital city after being convinced by Tokyo’s pitch.

“You’re in safe pair of hands with Tokyo” was the main theme of the Tokyo bid. The Chicago Tribune reports that a fund pool to the tune of $4.5 billion has been set aside to cover costs and that all possible measures are being taken to showcase Tokyo as a safe destination for tourists.

This will be the second Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo.

Entering Saturday, Istanbul and Tokyo were the front-runners to win the bid after a third city in Madrid was eliminated in the first round of voting. It was a third straight Olympic bid failure for the city of Madrid.

The Tokyo bid even received special backing from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came out and assuaged fears about any lingering negative effects on health due to the Fukushima nuclear plant that came under attack from the tsunami in 2011.

“Let me assure you, the situation is under control,’’ Abe said. “It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.’’

The main Olympic stadium in Tokyo is set to be built upon the same site where the older one existed.

Istanbul’s Olympic bid was centred around bridging the East and West, but it failed to fly with the IOC, who reportedly had aspersions about the city and country being able to handle a sporting event on such a large scale.

Tokyo had failed with their bid for the 2016 Olympics which eventually went to the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro