TOKYO - Tokyo will halve the cost of the city's bid to host the 2020 Olympics after criticism of the $150 million spent on its failed attempt to secure the 2016 Games.

Bid committee CEO Masato Mizuno said on Friday that Tokyo planned to slash spending and still launch a vastly improved challenge for 2020.

"That's my mission," Mizuno said in an interview at Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters. "This time we plan to cut the budget in half.

"The last time was about $150 million. On the first round (of voting) we learned a lot about financial management, so for the second round we have to be much smarter.

"Like in daily life, if you have enough money: 'Hey, why don't we have steak?' But this time the budget is small so we go to find nice noodles - okay."

Tokyo, which hosted Asia's first Olympics in 1964, lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race for the 2016 Games, with low public support amid a deepening recession largely blamed.

The devastating earthquake and tsunami in March which triggered a nuclear meltdown at a power plant north of the city plunged Tokyo's plans for a fresh bid for 2020 into chaos.

"A massive earthquake and tsunami like that you get once in a thousand years," Mizuno said.

"I watched TV pictures of children crying for lost parents and for the first month all I could think about was how to help the victims, not about bidding for the Olympics.

"But after receiving support from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and Olympic Council of Asia, we felt we had to bid."

Plans to hold sports such as soccer in disaster-hit northeast Japan are being considered by Tokyo's bid leaders.

"It's been reported in the media soccer will be played in (quake-hit) Sendai," Mizuno said with a smile. "We are examining the possibility.

"Sailing we could also hold anywhere," he added, referring to the possibility of taking the sport north of Tokyo in 2020 to the coastline ravaged by the tsunami.

"Our planning team is researching all these possibilities but just having the Olympic Games in Japan will give the whole country a boost, like in 1964."

Plans to build a gleaming, flying saucer-shaped Olympic stadium on Tokyo Bay, outlined in the city's 2016 bid, could be scrapped, however.

"The IOC had issues with the seafront stadium because it was surrounded by water on three sides," said Mizuno. "They were worried about a stampede in the case of an emergency."