Tokyo stadium sparks protest
Print Edition
A group of protesters marched around Tokyo’s National Stadium yesterday, demonstrating against plans to destroy the 56-year-old facility and replace it with a colossal, futuristic structure for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
About 500 people took part in the demonstration while carrying signs that read: “We want a compact and economical Olympics” and “Reverse the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.”
“The proposed stadium is too big,” said Kazuhisa Oriyama, one of the leaders of the protest.
“The games’ organizers should reconsider their plans and make the public part of the decision-making process.”
The proposed 80,000-seat stadium, designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, is to be the 2020 centerpiece but critics say it is too big, too costly and clashes with Tokyo’s urban planning.
Architects and other opponents are petitioning the government to instead upgrade the existing 48,000-seat stadium that hosted the 1964 Olympics.
The Japan Sports Council, which owns the existing stadium, has scheduled demolition to begin this month. It has already scaled back the original proposal to spend 300 billion yen (US$2.9 billion) on the new stadium to a still hefty 169 billion yen. Apart from cost, critics are unhappy with Hadid’s design, which some claim resembles a bicycle helmet.
It will have about four times the floor space of the current stadium and dominate the surrounding area.
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