Japan's atomic cities bid for 2020 Olympics

Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hope to use nuclear weapons ban as bait

CBC Sports

Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Dome would be one of the historic centrepieces if the city were to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. (Shizuo Kambayashi/Associated Press)

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are launching a joint bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima and Nagasaki's Tomihisa Taue are founding members of the Mayors for Peace 2020 Campaign, advocating for a global ban on nuclear arms, and they want to use that to springboard the world's largest sporting event into their two cities.

The Japanese cities were the site of the 1945 atomic bombings that closed out the Second World War in the Pacific.

"The Olympics symbolize the abolition of nuclear arms and world peace, and we want to work to realize our plan to host the games," Akiba said.

Hiroshima's mayor spoke last month in Mexico City, saying he firmly believed the world could abolish nuclear weapons by 2020. He suggested his city and Nagasaki could hold the Games that year to celebrate.

The mayors' announcement comes just over a week after Tokyo lost in its bid for the 2016 Games to Rio de Janeiro.

There is no word yet as to whether Tokyo will try for the Olympics again in 2020. Only one city from each country can bid.

Competition for the Games is expected to come from Delhi, Istanbul and Budapest. All three cities have already expressed interest in submitting a bid to host the Olympics.

Although the two cities that the United States dropped nuclear bombs on share a tragic bond, they are quite a distance apart on a map. Hiroshima is in western Japan, about 650 kilometres from Tokyo. Nagasaki is on the island of Kyushu, roughly 320 kilometres from its fellow Olympic aspirant.

Hiroshima has held a large-scale event before, hosting the 1994 Asian Games. The competition brought 7,300 athletes from 42 countries and regions to western Japan.

While the Japanese Olympic Committee praised the two cities for their enthusiasm, they felt that it would take far more than simply a message of world peace to be successful in their bid for the Games.

"The concept to host the Olympics is wonderful," Japanese Olympic Committee secretary general Noriyuki Ichihara said, according to the Kyodo news agency.

"But I believe it would be difficult for the IOC to accept it just on the basis of abolishing nuclear weapons."

With files from The Associated Press

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Double atomic bomb survivor found in Japan

A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person to be officially recognised as a survivor of both atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the United States at the end of the Second World War.

Last Updated: 8:49PM GMT 24 Mar 2009

A giant column of smoke rises, after the nuclear bomb explodes over the Japanese port and town of Nagasaki, on August 9, 1945 Photo: AP

Tsutomu Yamaguchi had already been a certified hibakusha, or radiation survivor, of the Aug 9, 1945, atomic bombing in Nagasaki. But officials have now confirmed that he also survived the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier.

Mr Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug 6, 1945, when a US B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He then returned to his home in Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, officials said.

"As far as we know, he is the first one to be officially recognised as a survivor of atomic bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said Toshiro Miyamoto, a Nagasaki city official. "It's such an unfortunate case, but it is possible that there are more people like him."

Certification qualifies survivors for government compensation - including monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs - but Mr Yamaguchi's compensation will not increase, Mr Miyamoto said.

Mr Yamaguchi is one of about 260,000 people who survived the attacks, which killed 140,000 in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

Survivors of the bombs have developed various illnesses from radiation exposure, including cancer and liver illnesses.

Details of Mr Yamaguchi's health problems were not released.

Thousands of survivors continue to seek official recognition after the government rejected their eligibility for compensation.

The government last year eased the requirements for being certified as a survivor, following criticism the rules were too strict and neglected many who had developed illnesses that doctors have linked to radiation.