Ever since Tokyo lost out on hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics the local media has been discussing what the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) did wrong. In particular, they analyzed the presentations given by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and a group of former and future Olympians before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Oct. 2 in Copenhagen, as if the presentations actually meant something.
Following the vote, Vice Gov. Naoki Inose appeared on TV Asahi's Hodo Station in an agitated state, saying that Japan's presentation was clearly the best among the four candidate cities, and claimed that he personally convinced the new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, into making the trip to Denmark. Hatoyama had made such a strong impression when he talked about Japan's pledge to cut carbon-dioxide emissions during his United Nations "debut" that Inose thought he could bring the same persuasiveness to the Olympics proposal.
Regardless of his performance at the U.N., Hatoyama's speech to the IOC was stiff and awkward, a combination of too little time with the text and too much self-consciousness to sound natural in English. The other presenters sounded equally if not more out-of-their-depth, earnestly selling Tokyo's dedication to environmental responsibility and other beautiful principles.