Tokyo tries to impress

One of my last official business stops here was a visit this morning with the people behind Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Of the other three finalists (Chicago, Rio, Madrid) they are the only one who's hosted it before. A lot has changed since 1964 when Tokyo last hosted, but some things have not. Their bid for 2016 includes four venues that were used for those games, although interestingly, only one of them would be used in 2016 for the same sport: Judo.

Tokyo's bid committee is based at a hotel in central Beijing where Japan House is located. Interesting differences between the USA House I visited the other day and Japan. Japan's "house" is open to all visiting Japanese and is located essentially on the main street in Beijing. The U.S. uses its "house" at a hard to find location as an invite-only place for people to do business. But there are some perks to that for visitors. While the food was glorious and plentiful at USA House, the same amentities were not offered to those visiting Japan's place.

Tokyo is banking on its Olympic history and Japan's high technology to woo the games. As a demonstration, my Tokyo contact had somebody operate a robot that danced a little hip-hop and kicked a soccer ball. It was interesting, I suppose, but as it was happening, I was thinking: "And this is going to help you win the Olympics how?"

But best of luck to them.