OSAKA -- While Osaka's business community wholeheartedly welcomes the city's victory in becoming Japan's candidate to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, concerns are growing over whether the city has enough international appeal to be chosen by world officials.

Osaka's enthusiasm to beat out Yokohama in the bid was prompted mainly by its desire to revitalize the Kansai region through increasing its presence in the global community.

But both local business and government officials in Osaka say the bigger challenge will come in 2001 when international candidate sites compete.

Economically, the Kansai region, which has been dependent on mostly manufacturing industries such as textile and household electric appliances, has suffered declines since the 1970s as companies have gradually moved factories overseas because of the yen's rise. Its gross regional product dropped from its peak of 30 percent of the gross national product to 17 percent.

Investment in the region by foreign companies is even less, occupying only 9.5 percent of Japan's total foreign investment, which indicates that foreign investors are more familiar with cities such as Tokyo and Yokohama.

"We have to make Kansai a place where people gather," says Yasuo Shingu, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren). "We need to invite the Olympics to Osaka to make its name well-known worldwide ... and also create incentives to make the place more comfortable for people to stay."

Sanwa Research Institute, a think tank affiliated with Sanwa Bank, estimates that the Olympics could attract about 2 million people to Osaka, who would bring about 500 billion yen worth of business with them.

"The Osaka Municipal Government's estimate for the number of visitors is smaller (1.3 million), but we believe that if the second runway at the Kansai International Airport is completed in 2007 as scheduled, Osaka can receive as many visitors as Atlanta did," said Sanwa's senior economist Masahiro Naka.

Osaka's poor international name recognition is one of its biggest disadvantages since the city faces competition from places such as Beijing.

Osaka city officials said they do not expect the central government, which has been trying to pare public spending, to be as supportive as it was about 40 years ago when Tokyo was preparing for the 1964 Olympics to show off the nation's successful postwar reconstruction.

Osaka's efforts to win the national bid over the past few months were always faced with surprisingly little attention in Tokyo, the officials said.

"We have to admit that we have nobody in the municipal government who has the connections and competence to make an effective appeal for Osaka worldwide," said Michiyuki Takai, director of the city's Olympic bid promotion division. He even added that Osaka might have lost the bid against Yokohama if Yokohama had not presented a plan that runs against the International Olympic Committee's principle of holding the Games basically in one city.

Takai stressed the importance of the business community's financial support and global network in successfully winning the bid to host the Olympics.

The Osaka city and the business community are considering choosing an Olympics ambassador from the business circle, who can visit foreign countries with a spouse and make an appeal for Osaka.

"When Aichi Prefecture was trying to invite the 2005 World Exposition, the business community of the Chubu region (headed by Toyota Motor Corp.) enthusiastically traveled the world with local government officials to promote the region," said Kankeiren's Shingu. "That is exactly what we have to do."

When Kankeiren held a meeting with the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) last month for the first time since 1988, Shingu began his speech by saying that Osaka was in the national running to host the Olympics as a way to revitalize Kansai. Keidanren's responded by saying it could help with international Osaka publicity.

Although 75 percent of the Games is planned to be held inside Osaka city limits, Kankeiren managed to gain broad support of its counterparts in nearby regions. The six economic organizations based in western Japan issued a joint statement in April demanding that the Olympics be held in Osaka to facilitate the nation's decentralization.

Osaka's business community also worked to recover a friendly relationship with the politicians of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to gain their support. Their ties had been weak, as Shinshinto holds most of the constituencies in Osaka Prefecture.

"We have been too strict on drawing a line between business and politics, but we realized that it is necessary to have connections with ruling policymakers in the center to carry out our goals of revitalizing Kansai," Shingu said.

Masafumi Onishi, chairman of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and of the Osaka Olympic Bid Promotion Conference created by the private sector, stressed the need for Osaka itself to improve the city's environment to become more friendly to foreign visitors.

"It is necessary to take such measures as increasing street signs in foreign languages so foreigners can walk inside the town without trouble, training volunteer interpreters who can appropriately explain the history and culture of Osaka, imposing stricter penalties on illegal parking along streets and increasing the number of foreign language TV channels in hotels," Onishi said.

"We have to start immediately, because it will take a long time to change."