"Arigato" Host Town for Supporting Reconstruction is a government project where towns in three disaster-stricken prefectures in the Tohoku region will host people and Olympians and Paralympians taking part in the 2020 Tokyo Games from various countries and regions, in addition to the conventional Host Town Initiative. Through hosting, each town will express their thanks to those who supported reconstruction efforts.
The Cabinet Secretariat of the Headquarters for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, under Shunichi Suzuki, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Games, established the project last September as part of the Beyond 2020 Program, which transmits the attractiveness of Japanese culture to create a legacy.
The theme of the project is to promote exchanges toward or beyond the 2020 Tokyo Games between towns in Tohoku and countries and regions that provided relief during the disaster. The exchanges vary from those with elementary school children to local government officials.