The Japanese Olympic Committee plans to pick a domestic candidate in its bid to host the 2016 summer Olympic Games, JOC officials said Thursday.

According to a blueprint JOC President Tsunekazu Takada revealed at an Executive Board meeting, the JOC is considering choosing the host city candidate by the end of next year among the applicants who file bids by the end of June 2006.

JOC officials said moves to consider an Olympic bid have emerged in Sapporo, the host of the 1972 Winter Olympics, and Fukuoka, which staged the 1995 University Games.

The International Olympic Committee will name the host of the 2016 Olympic Games in 2009.