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Summary Japanese networks continued to air rousing scenes from the previous day's noontime parade.
Japanese media said Tuesday the Olympic fervour on display when 500,000 people packed downtown Tokyo to hail medalists needed to be built on if the city was to win the rights to host the 2020 Games.Japanese networks continued to air rousing scenes from the previous days noontime parade, involving 71 of the countrys 76 medal holders from the London Olympics.May the fervour spread to Tokyos Olympic bid, read a front-page headline in the conservative daily Sankei Shimbun.The Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) reportedly spent 40 million yen ($500,000) to parade new Olympic medalists for the first-time ever -- in open-top cars and buses over a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) stretch of Tokyos upmarket Ginza area.At the London Games, Japan won seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze medals and their total medal haul of 38 surpassed their previous high of 37 from Athens 2004.The number of medalists surpassed the total as members of team events shared the honours with a medal for each. The womens football team, the 2011 World Cup champions, took the silver behind the United States.The parade was also aimed at leveraging Tokyos 2020 bid after it lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the campaign for the 2016 Summer Games, with low public support cited as a reason for the defeat.An International Olympic Committee (IOC) survey published in May showed that the rate of public support was 47 percent for Tokyo, against 73 and 78 percent for 2020 rivals Istanbul and Madrid.But organisers have expressed hope that they can convert those who had no opinion and accounted for 30 percent of the polled.IOC members will choose the 2020 host city in September next year.JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda, who also heads the bid committee, said that Japans feat in London makes us even more determined to deliver a dynamic celebration in the heart of the worlds most forward-thinking city.
