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Tokyo's Olympic Bid in the Overseas Media

With two days to go until the selection of the host city for the 2016 Olympics here is a list of some interesting recent articles looking at Tokyo's bid from various overseas perspectives.

We Do Show Emotion, Says Tokyo Olympic Bid Chief - AFP: Olympic bid chair Ichiro Kono indirectly suggests cultural insensitivity by the IOC in its criticisms of Japan's bid committee as 'lacking emotional punch.'

Tokyo Hope [sic] Its Emphasis on a Green Games Will Help Deliver 2016 Olympics - Telegraph.co.uk: An essentially positive assessment of Tokyo's bid from an environmental perspective, but one which contends that the lack of a major celebrity pushing the bid will hurt Tokyo's chances.

Tokyo Olympic Bid and Hatoyama Risks Loosing [sic] His Credibility - The Seoul Times: A fascinating propaganda piece which uses Tokyo's Olympic bid to attack the xenophobia, racism and development policies of Tokyo mayor and principal Olympic (and Tokyo Marathon) backer Shintaro Ishihara, suggesting fledgling prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will become widely hated throughout Asia for giving his support to Ishihara by appearing in Copenhagen to push Tokyo's bid.

Tokyo Pushing Green Games in Olympics Bid - The Peninsula: A relatively balanced article from Qatar looking favorably at the environmental aspects of Tokyo's bid while at the same questioning their feasibility and relevance.

Tokyo's Chances Fade for 2016 Olympics - BusinessWeek: Polls from last February reportedly indicate only a 55% support level among Japanese citizens in contrast to more up-to-date data.

Tokyo 2016 Guarantees 'Unprecedented Legacy Promise for Humankind' - Sports Features Communications: A press release which says the support levels in Tokyo and Japan as a whole are 'unprecedented,' giving numbers far higher than the BusinessWeek piece.

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