The Olympic movement is embroiled in a scandal involving alleged bribery by cities seeking to host the world's biggest sporting event. Salt Lake City, host of the 2002 Winter Games, is at the centre of the scandal.
"The Osaka 2008 Olympic Bid Committee pledges to respect and abide by the Olympic Charter, and to conduct open and clean promotion activities," said Osaka mayor Takafumi Isomura after being named bid committee chairman.
The mood at the launch ceremony was subdued because of the absence of officials from central government, which was involved in Japan's three successful bids for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the 1972 and 1998 Winter Olympics.
The Japanese central government decided last week to cut even symbolic links with cities bidding for Olympic Games until International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigations into the bribery scandal were completed.
Said Isomura: "We understand there are IOC problems. We will promote Osaka as the host city of the 2008 Olympics fairly and openly in accordance with the IOC rules."
The Osaka bid committee consists of 545 members, mostly local government officials and business leaders.
Osaka plans to set aside 90 million yen ($60 million) for bidding activities for the two months to March and 915 million yen for the year beginning in April.
Likely opponents of Osaka are Paris, Seville, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul and Beijing.
The IOC will choose the 2008 host city at a meeting in Moscow in 2001. Sydney has been awarded the 2000 Summer Games and Athens the 2004 Games.
Reuters
