By Duncan Mackay

Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan Toshiro Muto is reportedly lined up to the secretary general of Tokyo 2020 ©Bloomberg/Getty ImagesJanuary 23 - The team that will oversee preparations for Tokyo 2020 will be officially unveiled tomorrow with the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan Toshiro Muto expected to be appointed secretary general to work under ex-Prime Minister Yoshirō Mori.


A special ceremony has been arranged at the offices of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government where Mori, currently President of the Japan Rugby Football Union, will be formally introduced.

A vice-chairman to work alongside Mori will also be announced with Akio Toyoda, President and chief executive of the Toyota Motor Corporation, having reportedly been approached.

Muto, 70, currently serves as chairman of the think-tank Daiwa Institute of Research.

He will be expected to lead the practical work to host the Olympics and Paralympics, including raising funds through sponsorship and marketing programmes.

Toyota President and chief executive Akio Toyoda will be vice-chairman of Tokyo 2020, it has been reported ©Bloomberg/Getty ImagesToyota President and chief executive Akio Toyoda will be vice-chairman of Tokyo 2020, it has been reported ©Bloomberg/Getty Images

Muto, a keen artist who has publicly exhibited his work, served as the top bureaucrat of the Finance Ministry from June 2000 to January 2003 and was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan for five years from March 2003.

He was nominated for the post of Bank of Japan Governor in 2008 but was controversially rejected by the Diet over fears his appointment could jeopardise its independence.

The appointment of Toyoda, named Man of the Year by Autocar in 2012, would help earn the confidence of corporate Japan, who during Tokyo's successful campaign pledged to support the Games.

Also, at 57, he will bring some relative youth to an Organising Committee that some fear contains too many septuagenarians.

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