Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 19 - 25 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Tokyo citizens meet with IOC officials to call for less costly Olympic Games

A Tokyo citizens’ group on November 20 met with International Olympic Committee officials visiting Japan and handed them a petition urging that existing facilities should be better utilized for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The group in its petition argued that: the main venue should be an improved National Athletic Stadium without rebuilding it; the venue plan should include the Komazawa Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1964 Tokyo Games; and the sports event should be moved from July to October because summer in Tokyo is extremely hot and humid.

In response, an IOC public relations official explained that the committee is discussing the Olympic Agenda 2020 which encourages hosting cities to make the maximum use of existing facilities with the intention of giving less affluent cities an opportunity to host Olympic Games. The official said that they will respond to the petition after the IOC general meeting in December.

Hagiwara Jun’ichi, secretary general of the citizens group, pointed out that their vision of the future Olympics matches that of the IOC, adding that they will continue making requests.


Past related articles
> Tokyo’s extreme summer heat may adversely affect Olympic athletes [July 30, 2014]
> Tokyo governor declares review of Olympic venue plans [June 11, 2014]
> Lavish construction works for 2020 Tokyo Olympics arouse controversy [April 10, 2014]