Tokyo 2020: Mori Says City Owes for Stadium

(ATR Japan) Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori tells Around the Rings that the city of Tokyo must pay a share of the cost of building the new National Stadium.

"Of course, Tokyo has to take its burden," Mori said June 12 after the conclusion of the latest meeting of the Tokyo 2020 board of directors. The former Prime Minister told ATR Japan that before there is a final agreement for financing the new stadium there must be an agreement between the national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Mori said that the city share of the stadium bill is 50 billion yen (approximately $405 million), about one quarter of the total.

Tokyo governor Yoichi Masuzoe maintains that he has not been informed of this obligation and is seeking a specific description of the construction expense request. Masuzoe says a deal was made with his predecessor when Tokyo was bidding for the Olympics years ago that was kept secret from him.

At the press conference after the 2020 Tokyo board meeting on Friday, Mori said that Masuzoe should have known about the obligation.

"The bid for the Olympic Games was made by Tokyo metropolitan government. Even though the Tokyo governor has changed, Tokyo still holds the 2020 Olympic Games," Mori said.

Masuzoe has repeatedly expressed his belief that a secret agreement was made between Mori and former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara during bidding for the 2016 TokyoOlympics. He says that secret agreement was left in place when the 2020 Tokyo bid was successful.

Masuzoe says no formal document exists that indicates how much the Metropolitan Government has agreed to pay for the construction of the new stadium. He says Tokyo objects to the attitude of Mori and sports minister Hakubun Shimomura "that Tokyo has to obey to pay."

Shimomura says special legislation could be introduced to require the Tokyo government to contributeto the stadium construction.

Masuzoe says he believes such legislation could be unconstitutional.

Mori said while Masuzoe may be able to raise a constitutional question, it’s a matter of attitude, of accepting a responsibility to work together to construct the new stadium.

"I consider attitude is more important than constitution, if he wants to accept or not. I think it’s the problem of the attitude that Tokyo Metropolitan Government cannot cooperate with the Japanese government," Mori said at the Friday press conference.

The 80,000 seat stadium is to be built on the site of the now demolished Stadium from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Originally forecast to cost $1 billion, costs have risen dramatically since 2013 when Tokyo won the bid for 2020.

Designed by one of the world’s leading architects, Zaha Hadid, the arena was to include a retractable roof. But this feature may be cut from the final design to save money. While being constructed to serve as an Olympic Stadium, the new arena will first be used in 2019 for the Rugby World Cup.

Reported in Tokyo by Hironori Hashimoto