International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike agreed Tuesday to cooperate to reduce the cost of hosting the 2020 Olympics in their first meeting since Koike took office.
Sitting side by side only weeks after the freshly elected governor vowed to take an ax to various existing plans to pare spiraling costs, Bach assured Koike that "we are in this boat together."
"We are going to cooperate very closely to make these Olympic Games the great success for Tokyo, the great success for Japan and for the Olympic Committee," he said at the metropolitan government headquarters in Shinjuku Ward.