(ATR) The managing director of Japan's 2022 World Cup bid tells World Football Insider that the resignation of the country's prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will not hurt its campaign.
Hatoyama, Japan's fourth prime minister in four years, quit on Wednesday after just eight months in office. He stepped down over his failure to honour election promises including making significant changes to domestic policy to boost the economy and relocating the unpopular US military base away from the island of Okinawa.
Only last month, Hatoyama sent a personal letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter to underline the government's support for the bid. Blatter acknowledged Hatoyama's backing during Japan's bid book handover ceremony on May 14.
Blatter also received government guarantees about Japan's bid when he met Hatoyama in Tokyo last September to celebrate the FIFA chief's conferment of the Order of the Rising Sun award by the Japanese.
But Takato Maruyama,a key member of the Japan delegation that took part in the Zurich bid book presentation, insists Hatoyama's departure under a cloud of broken pledges will not damage a bid that is lagging behind in the 2022 race. Rival bids from Australia, Qatar, South Korea and USA have offered more compelling reasons for staging FIFA's quadrennial showpiece.
"The bid will not be affected as the cabinet, as a whole government,has declared its full official support for the Japan's bid last December and this will not change due to resignation," Maruyama told INSIDER.
"We are building momentum day by day as Japan and the Japanese people are so passionate to bring the FIFA World Cup to Japan in 2022."
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan is expected to choose a new leader and prime minister on Friday.
"We are confident enough that the new prime minister will show the same firm support to Japan's bid that will share the joy of the World Cup with all 208 FIFA affiliate countries and regions," Maruyama added.
Finance minister is tipped as Hatoyama's successor , while foreign minister, Katsuya Okada and transport minister Seiji Maehara may also be in the running.
Within days of coming into office, Japan's new leader will be asked to send a strong message to FIFA that his new administration is right behind the bid.
Fresh Government support for the bid is crucial as Japan is the first stop on FIFA's summer inspection tour of the nine bidders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.
A FIFA delegation led by Chile FA president Harold Mayne-Nicholls is scheduled to visit Japan from July 19 to 22.
Japan is vying to stage the World Cup for a second time after co-hosting the 2002 tournament with South Korea.
At the May 14 bid book handover, Blatter praised the "originality" of the Japanese bid that was presented to him via a Sony PSP gaming device, and the country’s "courage" for bidding to host a second World Cup finals.
Withreporting from WFI editor Mark Bisson (mark@worldfootballinsider.com)
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