Japan Press Weekly

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2015 August 5 - 11 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Tokyo JCP to Olympic Minister: Don’t demolish public housing complex to build Olympic stadium

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Members’ Group on August 4 made representations to the Olympic minister demanding a halt to a plan to demolish public housing units in order to construct the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The JCP took this action following the central government announcement that it decided to completely revise construction plans.

In the representations, JCP lawmaker Yoshida Nobuo said that the government should consider ways to make the 2020 Olympics less costly in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s “Agenda 2020”. He added that in developing a new plan, the government should also take into account issues regarding preservation of the environment around the vicinity.

Pointing out that in the original plan, a public housing complex will be demolished for the construction of a new stadium, Yoshida stressed that the government should draw up a new construction plan which enables families to keep living in the complex. He said that to demolish low-income public housing for an athletic facility goes against the Olympic spirit.

In response to Yoshida, a government official said that the revision only involves the design for the stadium, not the size of the premises.

Yoshida argued that as the government will scale down the size of the facility, it is a matter of course that it will be unnecessary to demolish the public housing complex.