Olympic flag arrives in Tokyo, host of the next Summer Games

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike waves the Olympic flag upon arrival at Haneda international airport in Tokyo. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

TOKYO — The Olympic flag has arrived in Tokyo, host of the next Summer Games.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike held the flag aloft as she got off an All Nippon Airways plane and walked down a stairway to the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda airport Wednesday.

Koike received the flag at Sunday’s closing ceremonies of the Rio Games from Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

Preparations are underway for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Construction of the main stadium is slated to start toward the end of this year. Japan’s capital also hosted the Olympics in 1964.

Koike is a newly elected governor of Tokyo who has pledged to examine the spiraling costs to avoid saddling taxpayers with debt and building white elephants.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.