4. Proceed with preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games

During my recent visit to Paris, I met with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. It was a prime opportunity to deepen relationships with the leaders of the cities that will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games after Tokyo 2020. To firmly pass the baton of a sustainable Games to these cities, I hope to make the most of every day until the Games, which is now less than 1,000 days away, in close cooperation with those throughout the country ranging from the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to the national and local governments.

Steady preparations for the Games

<Construct Games venues that will become legacies>

Last week, the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, the first of the new Games venues for Tokyo 2020, started operations and an opening event was held. I was filled with expectations over the badminton, modern pentathlon fencing, and wheelchair basketball events that will take place there, and felt assured that Games preparations are right on track.

As for the Ariake Arena, another Games venue now under construction, we plan to introduce, for the first time for a metropolitan facility, a concession scheme to leverage the power of the private sector to the maximum for the maintenance and operation of the facility. This will ensure that the venue becomes a center for sports and culture that will long be cherished as a post-Games legacy. An ordinance for formulating an implementation policy for the initiative has been proposed to this regular session of the Assembly. In the future, we hope to turn the Ariake Arena and its surroundings into the Ariake Legacy Area and employ the expertise and ideas of the private sector to create new vibrancies there.

<Aim to establish the Secondhand Smoke Prevention Ordinance (tentative name)>

As for measures to prevent secondhand smoke, we released our basic ideas for the Secondhand Smoke Prevention Ordinance (tentative name) in September, and invited the public to give their views. Approximately 17,000 comments were submitted. We will continue studying the matter for establishment of an ordinance.

At the previous regular session, you proposed the Ordinance for Protecting Children From Secondhand Smoke, which requires people to endeavor not to smoke in rooms or cars where there are children, and the ordinance was approved. The TMG, for its part, aims to establish an ordinance that would, as a general rule, ban indoor smoking at facilities used by many people. I hope this effort will serve as a model case of Assembly members and the governor inspiring each other and competing to enhance policies for the creation of a better Tokyo.

Proceed with the Host City Tokyo Project

To successfully deliver the Games and make Tokyo, and Japan, develop further, we will continue to strongly proceed with the Host City Tokyo Project, which consists of 13 projects in six categories.

In the category of “Disseminating Tokyo's Attractiveness,” we will newly conduct strategic promotional activities aimed at making the Tokyo Cultural Program better known and enhancing the program’s ability to get messages across to the public. And in the half-year period from April 2020, a concentration of activities to wrap up the cultural program will take place as the Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL to truly mesmerize the world.

Starting in February next year, we will hold TANDEM Paris-Tokyo 2018, a cultural exchange project to be organized with the city of Paris. Various programs will take place in both Tokyo and Paris, featuring the attractions of each other’s arts and culture. This will include an art event to be held by Tokyo in the fall in front of Paris City Hall showcasing furoshiki.

Next year will mark the 150th year of Edo’s renaming as Tokyo. We will take this opportunity to promote the attractiveness of Tokyo where tradition and innovation coexist. A logo will be designed to serve as a symbol of the project, and we will hold commemorative events and other various programs. Through these efforts, we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Tokyo together with our citizens, and broadly convey Tokyo’s profound attractions within and outside Japan.