High costs, Tokyo 2020 bribery scandal weigh on Japan’s Winter Olympics bid

High costs, corruption concerns surrounding the Tokyo Olympics exacerbate Sapporo city’s woes as it campaigns to host the 2030 Winter Games

Survey of 10,000 Sapporo residents showed public support as high as 65 per cent, but the city’s mayor has ruled out a referendum on the issue

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Sapporo is up against Canada’s Vancouver and the US’ Salt Lake City in the campaign to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 6:28pm, 12 Sep 2022Updated: 8:30pm, 12 Sep 2022

A scandal involving illicit payoffs linked to last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games is continuing to widen in Japan, throwing a cloud over a campaign by the city of Sapporo win the right to host the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Residents of Sapporo, the largest city in Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, were already divided over Sapporo staging the Winter Games, in light of the financial and political issues that dogged last year’s pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympics.

These concerns over corruption in the Tokyo Olympics and soaring potential costs could derail Sapporo’s bid.

Tokyo prosecutors have questioned Yoshiro Mori, the former prime minister and head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organising committee, in connection with the bribery scandal to determine what he knew about allegations that the former head of a sportswear manufacturer paid another member of the planning committee for contracts involving athletes’ clothing.

Prosecutors are reportedly attempting to determine why Haruyuki Takahashi, an executive of advertising giant Dentsu and a member of the 35-person organising committee, had introduced Hironori Aoki, of clothing firm Aoki Holdings, to Mori as far back as 2017, when decisions were being made on key sponsors for the largest sporting event in Japan’s history.