Since the 1960’s Olympic Games, the cost of each event has nearly doubled.

Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, observed many of its disappointed residents afterwards, failed because of a lack of passion. After years of rising economic insecurity and public debt, Tokyoites simply could not gather enough enthusiasm to put on the world’s costliest sporting extravaganza. There was no such problem this time. In beating Madrid and Istanbul on September 7th for the right to host the 2020 Games, Tokyo impressed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with a bid which is supported by 70% of the city’s population. That level of backing has risen by 14 percentage points since the earthquake/tsunami that wrecked Japan’s northeast coast in March 2011. It might appear strange that it took a disaster to rekindle Tokyo’s passion for the Olympics, but the city’s government relentlessly sold the idea that the event would help Japan recover — and many Japanese believe it. Ironically then, the lingering Fukushima nuclear crisis, triggered by that disaster, threatened Tokyo’s bid at the final hurdle. A string of problems at the leaky Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 230 km (140 miles) from the capital, put Tokyo’s Olympic organisers on the defensive, and forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to find $470m to plug the leaks. The world’s top athletes will be safe from radiation, he pledged before the IOC’s final vote on Saturday in Buenos Aires. “Let me assure you the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo,” he said. Mr. Abe had less to say about whether Japan can afford the games. Tokyo will build 22 of the 37 Olympic venues from scratch, and spend $1 billion refurbishing the national Olympic stadium, the centerpiece of Japan’s 1964 Olympics. The government’s estimated price tag for all this construction is ¥409 billion yen ($4.1 billion). That is almost certainly optimistic: every single Games since 1960 has failed to meet the cost target. The average overrun has been a whopping 179%. Nonetheless, can the Olympics bring some lasting benefit to Japan? It seems that those 70% of Tokyo residents certainly believe so.