With the IOC's Evaluation Commission ready to start its four-day inspection tour on Monday, Tokyo "will face an uphill battle due to a number of factors that could work against it in the coming presentations to the IOC commission," according to KYODO. The evaluation commission will examine Tokyo and assess the city "in order to compile a detailed technical report on Tokyo's plans to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games." Tokyo "must provide explanations on 14 themes, such as the location of venues, security, accommodation, and the all-important vision for the Games." The inspections and subsequent commission report before the IOC's technical briefing on July 3-4 "will be used as a reference for IOC members when they hold their final vote on the host city on Sept. 7 in Buenos Aires. "The Japanese Olympic Committee has also been "working feverishly on damage control in the wake of a whistle-blower scandal" in which more than a dozen female judo wrestlers accused their coach Ryuji Sonoda of physical and verbal abuse. One senior member of the Tokyo bid committee said, "Violence toward women is frowned upon overseas more than Japanese people realize. We can't easily brush this away" (KYODO, 3/3).
