Construction under way for Tokyo Games venues

TOKYO // The Tokyo 2020 Games will use 40 venues – eight new permanent venues, 23 existing sites and nine temporary venues – most of which are in two central zones of the capital.

Of all the planned venues, 39 will be used for the main Games and 20 for the Paralympics. Most of the venues are in two separately themed zones, one the Heritage Zone, the site of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the other the Tokyo Bay Zone. The Olympic and Paralympic Village will be between these two zones.

In Tokyo, venues to be built include the Olympic Stadium and the Sea Forest Waterway (both by the developer Taisei Corporation, which has offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai), the latter among green-covered reclaimed ground within and along Tokyo Bay, the Ariake Arena and the Musashino Forest Sport Centre (both by the Takenaka Corporation construction company, which has an office in Dubai), the Canoe Slalom Course, the Dream Island Archery Field and, constructed by the builder Obayashi Corporation, the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

The nine temporary venues are all in Tokyo except Tsurugasaki Beach in Chiba Prefecture’s city of Ichinomiya.

The international sports federations are very keen to make sure that the venues are fit for purpose and generally they are, Wolfgang Maennig, a professor of economics at Hamburg University, tells The National. "Even in some problematic cases like Athens and Rio, the venues fulfilled the requirements," he says.

But whether the facilities are up to the job is not the main concern for Tokyo, says the sports economics specialist Victor Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.

The real question is whether you can create adequate facilities at a reasonable cost, he says.

“Fundamentally, you could host the athletics events of the Olympics at a high school track as long as you don’t want to sell 70,000 tickets and have beautiful crowds as a backdrop in the TV shots,” he says.

It just so happens that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does want to sell 70,000 tickets and does want great TV shots, so what is simply adequate for a sports contest is not enough for the IOC, he says. But the standard of the facilities is to some extent determined by competition. “Of course, when the IOC loses their bargaining power, like they did in LA in 1984 when Los Angeles was the only bidder, then the extravagance of the facilities comes way down and the economic rationality comes back,” he says.

However, Prof Matheson says the simple truth is that most cities do not have a long-term need for Olympic venues such as a Games-standard swimming pool or velodrome, or articial waterway featuring rapids for slalom canoeing. “No amount of planning can change that,” he says.

Prof Maennig, meanwhile, says not all after-use plans work out, pointing to underused facilities left over from the Rio de Janeiro and Athens games. But, he concedes, “ Rio and Athens may not be comparable to Japan, which seems to be governed more ­efficiently.”

Away from sports facilities and accommodation, Japan’s airport operations need overhauling ahead of the Games, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata). The group in March called on Japan to prepare its airport infrastructure for the Games and future growth of the tourism industry through collaboration and extensive consultation with relevant industries.

Japan has set aggressive targets for attracting international tourist arrivals. In 2016, the country had 24 million international tourists. In the 2020 Olympic year, Japan hopes to have 40 million visitors, who are expected to spend US$70 billion. The 2030 target is to attract 60 million overseas visitors with expected tourism receipts of $130bn.

Successful infrastructure planning will play a key role in the continued growth of tourism in Japan. The development of Tokyo-Haneda airport’s international network, the privatisation of Sendai and Osaka’s Kansai and Itami Airports and continuous efforts to improve competitiveness by reducing customer costs and improve infrastructure are welcome developments.

“Not that long ago Japanese airports were the most expensive in the world. They are not cheap today but Kansai and Narita have dropped from among the 10 most expensive to 13th, and 23rd, respectively,” Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and chief executive, told the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. “We are moving in the right direction and there is still more to be done – particularly at Haneda, which is bucking the positive trend by raising charges.”

The initial results of Japan’s airport privatisation have been positive. This year, agreements for cost reductions were signed for Kansai and Sendai airports. “This is a positive start, particularly as Japan has no formal economic [aviation] regulation in place. I hope that Japan has found a formula that will work long-term. The eyes of the world’s aviation community will be following developments closely,” said Mr de Juniac.

“The Olympics are an important milestone and an impetus to get things done. But it must be part of a long-term, joined-up planning process focused on the big prize of welcoming 60 million visitors to Japan annually – and keeping Japanese businesses and people efficiently linked to the world,” he said.

“To fully realise Japan’s aviation potential, we need joined-up thinking and a clear long-term vision. There is a lot at stake. A healthy aviation industry generates both economic and social benefits that help people live better lives,” said Mr de Juniac. “Aviation is, after all, the business of freedom.”