Japan: Reactions to Tokyo’s Olympic Bid (Part One) · Global Voices
Tomomi Sasaki

What does the Japanese blogosphere and Twitterverse have to say about Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Olympics? Part One introduces some reactions before the announcements at the bid ceremony on October 2nd.
‘tokyo attracts the Olympics in 2016′ by Flickr user sekihan
babylonsden tweeted:
オリンピックやってほしいなぁ。前回の東京オリンピックを見た人が反対するのは聞かない。あれだけ自慢話（オリンピックの時はどうたらうんたら）を聞かせ続けて今回文句いうのは納得いかねぇ。
Uosan tweeted:
2016年、東京オリンピック招致、他に考えなければならない課題が多すぎるから。今から７年間も考え続けることはできないが、10月2日で決まれば自然に盛り上がると思う。その日まで、盛り上げようということですね。
As with many other bloggers, Happy Sachi refers to these statistics: Only 55% of Tokyo residents wanted to see the Olympics come to Tokyo according to an IOC poll held in February. This is 12 points lower than Chicago, 27 points lower than Rio, and 29 points lower than Madrid.
一番の懸念は「支持率の低さ」だそうです。
これは、日本人の特徴ですね。
恥ずかしがって、でも、だって、って感じになる。
実際やったら、国民団結で大盛り上がり。
そんな国民ですよ。
反対した人の理由は何なんでしょうね。
お金ですかね？
なんかしみったれてて嫌ですね。
お金で買えない価値が山ほどあるんだから
みんなで盛り上がっちゃえばいいのに。
プライスレスですよ。
We shy away from things and muddy the water but when the event actually happens, the country comes together and has a blast.
I wonder about the reasoning of the people who opposed the bid. Is it about the money? Such stinginess is disappointing.
There's a ton of value that simply can't be bought with money. Why not just have fun with everyone? That's priceless!
Trans Pacific Radio says no to Tokyo Olympics:
The only thing the Olympics are sure to bring is debt. In short, even if Tokyo really wanted the Olympics (and why anyone with accurate information would want them is confusing), the city could not afford them.
[…]
Money is a major consideration, of course, even the main consideration, but it is not the only consideration. Despite the TOCOG’s claims that many or most of the Olympic facilities are already in place, anyone who sees those or who knows what the IOC asks for and invariably gets, knows that this is not the case.
In fact, in its most recent evaluation of the four candidate cities, the Tokyo received a lower score than expected, partially due to the fact that many of the proposed venues were not only not ready to go, but would have to be rebuilt.
The blogger at Minkanjin desu (I am a civilian) changed his mind and now supports the bid:
私は日本のオリンピック開催に大反対でした。「人よりコンクリート」を重視するイベントになるだろう事が明らかだったからです。
しかし、今は賛成に変わりました。鳩山首相が国連で「温室効果ガスの25%削減」を宣言した為です。
2016年オリンピックの招致です。今から約７年目です。７年目と言えば、25%削減を実現する道筋がきちんと作られ、国民の生活もきわめてecoを意識したものになっているはずです。
開催されるオリンピックも環境を意識し、今までのものとは異なっているハズです（前回の北京オリンピックとはすっかり異なっている必要が有ると思います）　日本がこの方向性を世界に示す良い機会が2016年のオリンピックと思っています。
The bid is for the Olympics in 2016. That's seven years from now. That means that by then, the road to cutting emissions by 25% will have been paved and Japanese lifestyles will strongly reflect our eco-consciousness.
The Olympics will also be conscious of the environment and will be different from previous events. (I think it needs to be completely different from the Beijing Olympics.) The 2016 Olympics will be a good opportunity to show Japan's progress to the world.
Brett Larner has a list of some interesting recent articles looking at Tokyo's bid from various overseas perspectives. Hiroba Dankai took some photos of what the advertising in Tokyo looks like. Flickr user shibuya246 posted photos of the Tokyo 2016 Olympic Parade.