Japanese Olympics Minister welcomes new dates for the Tokyo Games next year

Japanese Olympics Minister welcomes new dates for the Tokyo Games next year

Japan's Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto says she is "thankful" that they were able to quickly set a new date for the Tokyo Games.

BROADCAST AND DIGITAL RESTRICTIONS~** Broadcasters: NONE Digital: NONE ** VIDEO SHOWS: JAPANESE OLYMPICS MINISTER SEIKO HASHIMOTO SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NEW DATES FOR TOKYO GAMES NEXT YEAR SHOWS: TOKYO, JAPAN (MARCH 30, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

JAPANESE OLYMPICS MINISTER, SEIKO HASHIMOTO WALKING TOWARDS JOURNALISTS 2.

HASHIMOTO LISTENING TO QUESTION 3.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE OLYMPICS MINISTER, SEIKO HASHIMOTO, SAYING: "I am thankful that we were quickly able to set a date for the opening and closing ceremonies, and Olympics and Paralympics.

I welcome this from the bottom of my heart." 4.

HASHIMOTO'S EYES 5.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE OLYMPICS MINISTER, SEIKO HASHIMOTO, SAYING: "We feel it's better to hold (the Games) next year at summer time for the sake of transportation, volunteers, and for the ticket holders around the world." 6.

HASHIMOTO TAKING QUESTIONS 7.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE OLYMPICS MINISTER, SEIKO HASHIMOTO, SAYING: "For athletes to fully prepare, we need (to give them) as much time as possible." 8.

HASHIMOTO LEAVING STORY: Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto welcomed the new fixed dates for the postponed Olympic Games following the announcement made by Tokyo 2020 organizing committee on late Monday (March 30) evening.

The postponed Olympic Games will now begin on July 23 next year and run until Aug.

8, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee said, as the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to plan for them properly this year.

Paralympic Games would run from Aug.

24-Sep.

5.

"We feel it's better to hold (the Games) next year at summer time for the sake of transportation, volunteers, and for the ticket holders around the world," Hashimoto said.

The Games were postponed last week and the delay is the first in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics.

The postponement represents a huge blow for Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the event, and raised $3 billion from domestic sponsors.

(Production: Akira Tomoshige, Akiko Okamoto)