Japan Press Weekly

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2014 December 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Tokyo Olympic venue plans to be revised as demanded by JCP and by IOC

In line with demands from the Japanese Communist Party and policies of the International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan government has taken a step toward revising the costly venue plan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tokyo on November 19 announced its decision to revise the current venue plans because the construction cost turned out to exceed 458.4 billion yen, three times more than the initial estimates. According to the announcement, Tokyo will give up on building new facilities for badminton, basketball, and sailing competitions and use existing facilities instead.

In September last year, shortly after the IOC named Tokyo to be the host city of the 2020 Summer Games, the JCP issued a statement that preparation works for the Olympics should be carried out in harmony with citizens’ lives and the natural environment. The JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members’ group repeatedly urged in assembly meetings that the construction of new facilities be kept to the minimum necessary and that the existing facilities be fully utilized. The JCP group in May made representations to the Tokyo governor and the education minister to this end.

The JCP demands match with the IOC’s “Agenda 2020” reform package which is currently under discussion. The IOC in this package advices cities hosting Olympics to make maximum use of current facilities in order to reduce construction costs.

Various residents groups are working to make the Olympics more friendly to both citizens and the environment. JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member Azegami Miwako said that joint efforts made by these citizens and the JCP have brought about the changes in the venue plans.

One of the unsolved problems concerns the plan to construct a New National Athletic Stadium which will be the main venue in the 2020 Olympics. The new stadium is estimated to cost more than 200 billion yen to construct and 4.6 billion yen a year for maintenance. In addition, local residents and architects are claiming that the new stadium will greatly alter and damage the landscape. An opinion poll by Nikkei in September shows that only 24% of the respondents agreed with the current construction plan, 41% said that the current National Athletic Stadium should be used as the main venue after some modifications and renovations, and 35% called for the downsizing of the plan.

JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member’s group head Yoshida Nobuo expressed his determination to keep working to have the venue plans more accurately reflect citizens’ opinions.

Past related articles
> Tokyo citizens meet with IOC officials to call for less costly Olympic Games [November 21, 2014]
> Lavish construction works for 2020 Tokyo Olympics arouse controversy [April 10, 2014]