TOKYO, Oct. 8 (Xinhua)-- The Japanese government will likely appoint a cabinet minister to exclusively handle affairs related to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, by increasing the maximum number of ministers by one, local media quoted sources as saying Wednesday.
Currently, Hakubun Shimomura, the education, culture, sports, science and technology minister, is concurrently the minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Later this month at the earliest, the government plans to give cabinet approval to a bill for a special measures law for the Olympics and Paralympics, and submit the bill during the current extraordinary Diet session, the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted the sources as saying.
As the Olympic minister will handle all policies about the Games, such as measures to develop athletes and improve infrastructure, creation of the new post was decided in September 2013 after the decision that Tokyo would host the 2020 Games. The government aims to keep the ministerial post exclusively dedicated to the Games as a time-limited measure until the end of fiscal 2020 (April 1,2020-March 31, 2021).