Japan’s director general of the Sports and Youth Bureau has resigned from his position. The news that Kimito Kubo would be stepping down has been officially attributed to personal reasons, but both local and international press have speculated that Kubo’s resignation is the latest development in the saga of Japan’s national stadium project – the venue expected to be the centerpiece of Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Games.
Last week, a new design competition was announced, following news that the original stadium plan, by Zaha Hadid Architects, was to be scrapped.
Costs for the original stadium design had spiraled to ¥252bn (US$2bn), leading Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe to announce that a new solution would be sought. Zaha Hadid Architects has also released a statement insisting that spiraling costs were not a result of the venue’s design.
July 31, 2015
