Revising Tokyo Olympic Plan

Was Tokyo the best Choice anyway? Governor of Metropolitan Tokyo, Yo-ichi Masuzoe, announced that he would review the plan of building facilities for 2020 Olympic Games as a whole. That was a reasonable result, considering firm opposition from the residents in the city. The plan has been criticized from the aspect of finance, environment and sustainability after the event. Although the plan was made under the leadership of former governor, who stepped down with money scandal, current governor decided that it would also be politically not sustainable.

The Organizing Committee for Tokyo Olympic and Government of Tokyo made a plan to prepare thirty-seven facilities for all games. Among them, building New National Stadium, in order to expand its capacity of audience from 54 thousand to 80 thousand, would be the most costly. Although the total price was estimated to be $1.3 billion at the beginning, it rose as much as $30 billion later, and the Government of Japan required reducing it. The Organizing Committee cut it down to $1.6 billion by downsizing the facility. About two hundred families living in near-by apartment houses, most of them are old agers, will be displaced in the construction plan.

Local government of Tokyo is going to build ten new facilities, including new indoor swimming pool. While they estimated the cost for Tokyo Government as $1.5 billion for all at first, it jumped up to $3.8 billion due to current price hike of building materials and labor of workers. In his speech to Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, Masuzoe promised that he would review the plan as soon as possible not to affect construction schedule.

From environmental activists, complains over stadium for canoe have been submitted to the Organizing Committee. The place for it has been a broad seaside park for the people in Tokyo, where various wild lives have settled for their home. It also became an unusually rich in migrating birds. It is concerned that the wildlife will be excluded by building canoe stadium there. In addition, lack of clearness for land use after the Olympic made the activists frustrated. So, it is likely for the Committee to review the project.

As seen in Soccer World Cup in Brazil, where broad protest occurred, spending much money for major sport event has become unpopular in hosting nation. While one of the causes of Tokyo Olympic was to show Japan reconstructed from the disaster of East Japan Great Earthquake, Tokyo construction bubble has been posing great burden on suffered places in Tohoku with high price of materials. Most people who do not have close relation to construction industries are not very happy with Tokyo Olympic so far.