International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, second from left, and Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, third from left, are seen heading to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima's Naka Ward on July 16, 2021. (Mainichi/Naohiro Yamada)
HIROSHIMA -- The Hiroshima prefectural and municipal governments will have to cover some 3.79 million yen (roughly $34,000) in security costs for International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach's July visit to the city of Hiroshima, after the Games' organizing committee refused to pay, it has emerged.
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games declined the Hiroshima prefectural and municipal governments' request it pay the fees for outsourcing a private security company. The bill will now be split between the two governments.
Bach showed a strong desire to visit Hiroshima even before coming to Japan, and visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in the city's Naka Ward on July 16 to offer flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and inspect the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
He was accompanied by Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee. In addition to prefectural police protection, the prefecture and city restricted access to the park and outsourced the work to a security company.
The prefectural and municipal governments say they consulted with the organizing committee before Bach's visit and asked them to shoulder the cost, but were rejected. A city official said, "We judged that security was needed and the cost appropriate, so as prefecture and city, we decided to accept (paying the cost)."
When Pope Francis visited Hiroshima in November 2019, city officials voluntarily provided security at Peace Memorial Park in addition to police, and the prefectural and municipal governments reportedly split temporary fence installation expenses of 990,000 yen (approx. $9,000).
(Japanese original by Isamu Gari, Hiroshima Bureau)
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