The managing director for Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics said earlier this week that private funding for the bid effort was falling far short of its target.
Bidding for the Games was expected to cost ¥7.5 billion, and it was anticipated that ¥3.8 billion of that be raised through private donations. Masato Mizuno, the managing director of the bid committee, however, indicated that less than half of that amount had been raised so far.
Tokyo is competing with Madrid and Istanbul to host the 2020 Games with the winning bid to be decided by the International Olympic Committee in September.
"By September, we want to raise ¥3.8 billion," one of bid committee members said.
The committee is looking at other ways of raising money, including increasing its target for sponsorship contracts.
Tokyo spent ¥15 billion on its failed bid to host the 2016 Games and ended in the red worth ¥690 million.