This comes as negotiations continue over moving a number of venues to pre-existing locations, some of which lie outside Tokyo itself, in order to reduce costs, with this encouraged as part of the International Olympic Committee's Agenda 2020 reform process.

There have previously been calls for events to be shifted to Fukushima, the region around 240 kilometres north of the capital, from which mass evacuations took place following the flooding of nearby Daiichi Power Plant, caused by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

"If baseball and softball return to the Olympics, and preliminary games are played outside Tokyo, then we hope to be able to stage games," said Hiroaki Kuwajima, a Municipal Government official in the region, as reported by the Japan Times. 

"We are still in the process of recovery from the disaster and it would be a dream to have world-class athletes play here."

Boys practice baseball in Fukushima in 2012, just one year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami ©Getty Images



Agenda 2020 proposals also gave rise to the prospect of new sports being added to the programme in time for the Games, with men's baseball and women's softball widely tipped to return for the first time since Beijing 2008 due to their huge popularity in Japan.

Karate and squash are among others with serious aspirations. 

A decision was though possible this year, but is now not expected until the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro ahead of next year's Games in 2016.

If baseball and softball are eventually added, the main venue would likely be the iconic Tokyo Dome, although it is possible that, as Kuwajima said, preliminary matches could be held elsewhere. 

Concerns over the extent of the nuclear spill a major issue when Tokyo successfully bid for the Games in 2013, but the official also sought to calm "harmful rumours" about the safety of the region, with the city itself just 60km away from the nuclear station.

"Fukushima has suffered a lot of financial damage caused by misinformation," he said.

"We would like to be able to sweep away those harmful rumours.

"Fukushima has venues capable of hosting these games."

He added that the city's J-Village sports facility, a former training venue for the Japanese football team, is set to be restored ahead of 2020, following a temporary conversion into being a base camp for workers fin the aftermath of the disaster. 

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