Japan May Scale Down Plans for 2020 Olympic Stadium

Japan may revise plans for a new stadium in Tokyo for the Olympic Games to combat rising costs and after facing criticism that the stadium will be too large. 

Olympics minister Hakuban Shimomura told a parliamentary commission that the new stadium could cost up to 300 billion yen ($3.08 billion), rather than the 130 billion yen that was outlined in the Japanese capital’s bid proposal, and that the government was to consider scaling back the stadium plans.

An Education ministry official has said that the original estimate only accounted for the stadium itself and the additional cosrs were for work on the grounds around the new stadium. 

Yukio Yamamoto, in the ministry’s Sports and Youth bureau, said: “The minister meant two things – that while guaranteeing the stadium has the needed facilities and scale to host the Olympics, the building could be made smaller, more compact. Then there’s also the idea that the cost may be too much.”

The planned 80,000 seater stadium was designed by London architect Zaha Hadid, who was also behind the aquatics centre for the London 2012 Games. 

The plans have been criticised by Japanese architects, who its size would not allow it to blend in with the current environment. A number of trees would also need to be cut down to clear space for the construction, trees are a rare commodity in the crowded city of Tokyo.

Yamamoto said that essential components to host the Olympics would be unchanged in any revised plans, as would the stadium’s capacity, suggesting areas such as exhibition rooms may be reduced in size.