Japan savoured its victory on Monday in the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games, anticipating an economic boost to spur its revival from two decades of stagnation and help it recover from the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
But while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bold gamble to throw himself into the Tokyo bid paid off handsomely, his claims to have the problems of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor under control ran into fresh resistance.
The Japanese capital's decisive win over rivals Madrid and Istanbul boosts Abe's fortunes after he put his reputation on the line for the bid, and a brisk gain for Tokyo shares suggests a boon as well for national confidence, a key ingredient in the success so far of Abe's aggressive pro-growth policies.
The Tokyo bid committee estimates the world's third-biggest economy will get a boost of more than 3 trln yen ($30 bln) with the creation of 150,000 jobs. The Nikkei stock index gained 2.5% on Monday, while some analysts predict a short-term boost of 10%.
But Tokyo, which held Asia's first Olympics in 1964, is now preparing for the world's biggest sporting extravaganza as the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl continues to unfold just 230 km (140 miles) from the Japanese capital.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, has recently been forced to reverse denials and admit that hundreds of tonnes of radioactive water are pouring into the Pacific Ocean each day. Radiation levels near tanks that leaked highly radioactive water have spiked, and the operator of the plant has voiced concerns that contamination may reach groundwater.
Abe said in Buenos Aires, where Tokyo's victory was announced by the International Olympic Committee, that the plant is "under control".
Tokyo pledged last week to spend nearly half a billion dollars on cleaning up the plant, with critics saying the announcement was aimed at the Olympic vote.
But a poll by the Asahi newspaper over the weekend found that 72% of the respondents thought the government's response was too late, while 95% thought Fukushima was a serious problem.
Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University, said it is "disingenuous" for Abe to tell the rest of the world that Fukushima is safely removed from Tokyo, "while campaigning domestically that we are one nation."
More people in Fukushima are now likely to have died as a result of health problems and stress related to nuclear evacuation than died in the 2011 quake and tsunami itself, a Mainichi newspaper survey showed on Sunday.
South Korea on Friday extended a ban on Japanese fishery imports to a larger area around the crippled Fukushima plant due to concerns over the radiation.
Since coming to power in December, Abe has promoted aggressive monetary and fiscal policies that have raised some confidence Japan can emerge from its years of stagnation.
Japanese shares rallied and the yen dropped on Monday after Tokyo won the Olympic bid.
A Tokyo Olympics stock index of 79 companies that could benefit from the Games, compiled by Okasan Securities, was already up about a half this year, gaining more than the broader market's increase of about a third.
Realtors, anticipating development of Tokyo's downtown waterfront area – where the Olympic Village will be located – are especially hopeful.
An economic lift might also give Abe the final impetus he needs to make a decision on a planned increase in the national sales tax, Japan's biggest attempt in years to rein in its runaway public debt. Abe will decide around October 1 whether the economy is strong enough to weather the hike.
