It will be the first occasion that the Games have been staged in the Japanese capital since 1964.

It will also be the fourth time they have been hosted in Japan, following Sapporo and Nagano, who hosted the Winter Olympics in 1972 and 1998 respectively. 

It was the culmination of a race in which right up to the announcement here at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session it was generally  thought was too close to call. 

But in the end, Tokyo polled 60 votes to Istanbul's 36, a comprehensive victory that seemed unlikely earlier in the week 

IOC President Jacques Rogge announces that Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

Madrid, who had started the day as marginal favourites in the opinion of many, were eliminated in the first round following a tiebreaker after they had polled the same number of votes as Istanbul.

Both cities had finished with 26 votes as Tokyo polled 42.

In the runoff Istanbul got 49 votes to Madrid's 45, meaning a third consecutive unsuccessful bid from the Spanish capital.

"Tokyo is honoured and humbled by the International Olympic Committee's decision to award us the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games," said Tsunekazu Takeda, President of Tokyo 2020 and the Japanese Olympic Committee.

"It is with an incredible sense of excitement that we express our thanks to the IOC members and the wider International sports movement.

"The Olympic Family has put its faith in our great city to deliver the memorable Games we have promised, and we will not let them down.

"With no doubt, this will be a memorable event for the every member of the Olympic Family, every athlete and every spectator.

"The most recent public polls revealed that 92 per cent of the Japanese population supported Tokyo's hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, so I am confident that 116 million Japanese people are smiling right now.

"We thank each one of those individuals for their support of Tokyo 2020 throughout this extraordinary two-year journey."

The hero of the hour turned out to be Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who flew in from the G20 Summit in St Petersburg, to deliver an address which appeared to reassure the IOC members over fears that they had about the Fukushima nuclear accident.

''Let me assure you the situation is under control," he told delegates.

"It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.''

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is congratulated by IOC President Jacques Rogge after Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

It was the last occasion on which IOC President Jacques Rogge will perform the task of reading out which city will host the Olympics and Paralympics. 

"Congratulations to the city of Tokyo on its election as host of the 2020 Olympic Games," said Rogge, whose 12-year term in office comes to an end on Tuesday (September 10).

"Tokyo presented a very strong technical bid from the outset - and it needed to in competition with two such high-calibre bids from Istanbul and Madrid.

"All three cities were capable of staging excellent Games in 2020, but in the end it was Tokyo's bid that resonated the most with the IOC membership, inviting us to 'discover tomorrow' by delivering a well-organised and safe Games that will reinforce the Olympic values while demonstrating the benefits of sport to a new generation."

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