50th Anniversary of 1964 Olympics is Day One of Tokyo 2020 Committees

(ATR) Japanese PM Shinzo Abe says revival of Japan needed to successfully stage Tokyo 2020.

Abe opened the first meeting of Tokyo 2020’s advisory committee on Friday, the 50th anniversary of Tokyo’s first Olympics.

The main purpose of Friday’s meeting was to demonstrate the "All Japan" group. There are 175 members of the committee representing a wide range of Japanese society including political, business and government leaders.

At the start of the meeting, Abe said "we have only six years left. We have a lot of to do, such as security and transportation. ​

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"We have to revive Japan so that we can support the acceleration of Tokyo 2020 preparations."

Yoshiro Mori, president of Tokyo 2020, mentioned about three points what will be chief goals for Tokyo 2020. ​

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"Let everyone achieve his or her best, let everyone accept each other as they are, and let us pass that on to the future,"he said.

Masaaki Yamazaki, speaker of the House of Councillors, said it is "important" that Tokyo stage the 2020 Olympics with the Tohoku prefectures, the area most hit by the Sendai earthquakes, "to show that Japan is recovered."​

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Also on Friday, the Tokyo 2020 Athletes Commission met for the first time. ​

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Mori said the success of the Games rests with the committee.

"We cannot succeed without your opinions on the development of the Athletes’ village and utilization of sports legacy," he said in opening remarks. "I want to foster ties between athletes through this committee."

After the, committee chairman Daicihi Suzuki said "Everyone gave me very important opinions. I want to create an environment in which various people voice their opinions."

Written by Kenta Handa and Taiga Shimada in Tokyo​.

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