The city of Osaka defeated rival Yokohama 29 to 17 in a vote by the Japanese Olympic Committee and sports officials Aug. 13 to become the nation's candidate for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The closed voting followed final presentations by the two cities at Tokyo's National Olympic Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo. Twenty executive board members of the JOC Committee and 29 representative from sports associations involved in the Summer Games cast their votes, of which three were deemed invalid.
"Osaka is a city that can compete with other international candidates," JOC President Hironoshin Furuhashi told a press conference. "The JOC will make efforts of all kinds to win the bid for the 2008 Games."