Tokyo’s governor says he wants to bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics — a month after Japan’s capital lost out to Rio de Janeiro for the rights to host the 2016 edition.
Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told a group of reporters on Monday that he wants to give it another try. Rio won the vote by IOC members last month, beating bids from Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago for the 2016 Olympics.
Tokyo metropolitan government officials said Mr. Ishihara was expressing a personal view, and that a decision for another bid would require approval by the city assembly.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki have also announced plans to jointly seek to bring the Olympics to Japan in 2020. Ishihara said Tokyo should co-host the event with Hiroshima if his city wins the spot.
Under existing guidelines, the IOC only allows one city to host each Olympics. But Mr. Ishihara said teaming up with Hiroshima, which was the site of an atomic bombing at the end of World War Two, would be good for the cause of peace. He did not mention including Nagasaki in the plan.
Other cities that have expressed interest in the 2020 Olympics include Istanbul, Budapest and New Delhi.
A host city is expected to be named in 2013.
