As many as 500,000 people lined Tokyo’s streets Monday to welcome home Japan’s Olympic medallists, boosting Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
The athletes rode on open-top buses adorned with Tokyo 2020 logos, travelling through Tokyo’s upmarket shopping district of Ginza.
Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President Tsunekazu Takeda said, “Japan is an incredible sporting nation and holds its athletes, Olympians in particular, in very high esteem. The unprecedented performance in London makes us even more determined to deliver a dynamic celebration in the heart of the world’s most forward-thinking city”.
Japan had the country’s best-ever showing with seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze medals.
Tokyo is bidding against Madrid and Istanbul for the 2020 Summer Games. It lost to Rio de Janeiro in the race for the 2016 Olympics.