Olympics: Tokyo's 2020 bid to include quake-hit areas of northeastern Japan+

SENDAI, June 25 Kyodo -
Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics would include the three quake-battered northeastern prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima as host sites, Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda said Saturday.
Takeda, upon a meeting with Miyagi Vice Gov. Shuichi Miura in Sendai, said he wanted the 2020 Games in Tokyo to stand as ''a symbol of recovery'' from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the ensuing nuclear power plant crisis.
Takeda said he hoped the Tohoku region could join in on the organization of what would be Tokyo's second Olympics by hosting soccer among other events.
''We want to help rehabilitate Japan through sports,'' said Takeda, who also visited an evacuation center on this day.
Miura was all for the three prefectures helping Tokyo with the hosting of the Games.
'''The Olympics would be an opportunity like no other to show the world how we have recovered from the disasters,'' Miura said. ''We want to support the movement as much as we can.''
==Kyodo
2011-06-26 00:26:03