The Japanese Olympic Committee will urge big Japanese cities to consider bidding to host a major international multisport event in the near future, JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda said Friday.
Takeda said he hopes cities with experience staging an international sporting event will bid for such events as the 2014 or 2018 Asian Games and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
"The practical way is to bring it to a city that has hosted the Asian Games or University Games," Takeda said.
Japan hosted the University Games in Kobe in 1985 and in Fukuoka in 1995, and the Asian Games were held in Hiroshima in 1994. Tokyo is the only Japanese host of the Summer Olympics, staging the Games in 1964.
In other developments, JOC officials said the committee has issued a recommendation to the International Olympic Committee for the inception of Takeda as a new IOC member.
According to the officials, the IOC Nominations Commission screened about 50 applicants, including Takeda, in March and new members will be appointed at an IOC general assembly meeting in Singapore in July.
Chiharu Igaya and Shunichiro Okano are the current Japanese members of the IOC.
Also on Friday, the JOC Executive Board finalized the appointment of Kiyoko Ono, 69, as the first woman to become a JOC vice president.
Executive board member Mikako Kotani, 37, a former synchronized swimmer, was named the head of the JOC Athletes Committee.