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Toyota chief leaves Tokyo Olympic committee

Toyota head resigns from ,  By MARI YAMAGUCHI, TOKYO (AP) — The head of Toyota Motor Corp. stepped down Monday as vice president of the organizing committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as organizers acknowledged the cost of hosting the games will be far higher than originally thought.

The committee said that Akio Toyoda is expected to be replaced by the president of Panasonic, Kazuhiro Tsuga.

Toyoda is also a member of the Japanese business federation’s committee for the Olympics. Organizers said Toyoda may have been concerned about serving on both committees, as the Olympic body is seeking support from the business community.

Mr. Toyoda might have tried to sort out his roles,” Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters.

Toyoda said in a statement that he decided to reorganize his roles to intensify his efforts to encourage business support for the 2020 Games. He said he is “looking forward to forging even closer ties between the organizing committee and Japan’s business community.”

Also Monday, Muto said the cost of the games will be much higher than the original estimate of just over 300 billion yen ($2.5 billion), though he did not give a specific figure, saying officials are still sorting out and compiling cost estimates.

Muto denied recent media reports that the latest overall cost estimate has soared to 1.8 trillion yen ($15 billion), saying comparing numbers without specific breakdowns is “inappropriate.”…..

Toyoda’s sudden resignation and the confirmation of rising costs are the latest in a series of setbacks for the Olympic preparations. Japan had to scrap its original plans for the main stadium because of soaring costs, and then faced a plagiarism scandal over the logo for the games. …. http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_b19a72f0-b315-58ca-b211-919ff3a1a920.html#.VnixzirhYlM.twitter

December 23, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general