Hiroshima mayor says majority back 2020 plan

TOKYO (Reuters) - The mayor of Hiroshima says 70 percent of the city's citizens support the proposal to bid for the 2020 Olympics along with Nagasaki, Japanese media reported on Thursday.

The only cities to have suffered nuclear attacks announced they were considering a bid earlier this month following Tokyo's defeat in the race to stage the 2016 Games.

"We plan to examine the possibility with the utmost care in order to reach a conclusion as many people as possible will agree with," Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said.

Akiba said 70 percent of the city backed Hiroshima's ambitious plan with those against, voicing concern over the costs involved in hosting the Olympics.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- located on Japan's southern-most Kyushu island -- are separated by more than 300 kilometers.

The cities, who have agreed to set up a committee to look into the viability of an Olympic bid, cited their commitment to abolishing nuclear weapons as the reason for their proposal.

Tokyo, the first Asian city to host an Olympics in 1964, lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the International Olympic Committee vote to select the 2016 Games host on October 2.

(Reporting by Alastair Himmer; Editing by John O'Brien)