An independent investigation into a payment supposedly connected with Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics has not confirmed evidence of bribery.

Hosting the 2020 Olympics should not only raise Japan’s international profile, it should also make its people healthier. Despite rating well internationally when it comes to sports participation, Japan wants to do even better.

With the prospect of runaway expenses, the Japanese government last month pulled the brake and launched a new design contest for Tokyo’s new Olympic stadium. But the debate about who is to blame for the fiasco continues.

Hosting the most compact Games ever has been one of Tokyo’s selling points since the city won the 2020 Olympics’ hosting rights. But as the Tokyo bid has had to realise, making a geographically compact event is not always economically compact.

Tokyo’s hosting of the Olympic Games in 1964 was a PR triumph, which reflected on the entire population’s self-confidence. The Japanese government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s vision for the 2020 Games is to repeat this success, but it will be a Japan with all its strengths, weaknesses and inner conflicts that opens its doors to the world.

In a few years, Asia will be the center of gravity for the Olympic world. IOC chose Tokyo as the safe solution rather than the more visionary but also more risky bids on the future of sport.