Compactness and environmental protection are the key concepts for the proposed Tokyo Olympic Games in 2016, a nonprofit organization of the drive to bring the Olympics to Tokyo announced Monday.
In unveiling the draft outline of the proposed event, the Tokyo 2016 Olympic Games Bid Committee also set the dates for the games in 2016 — July 29 through Aug. 14 for the Olympic Games and Aug. 31 through Sept. 11 for the Paralympic Games.
According to the draft outline, almost all the venues for the competitions will be located within a 8-km radius from the Olympic Stadium, which will be constructed on reclaimed land in the Tokyo Bay area at a cost of ¥121.4 billion.
Except for the Olympic Stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, track and field events, soccer games and a few others, existing facilities will be utilized for the Olympic Games.
They include the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and the National Stadium, the main venue for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, both in the Yoyogi district, the Nippon Budokan in Kudan, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo Dome and the Tokyo International Forum convention hall in Yurakucho.
A number of parks and outdoor sports facilities on reclaimed land in the Tokyo Bay area will be utilized as venues for such events as equestrian sports, swimming, archery and canoeing.
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who chairs the bid committee, told a kickoff gathering of politicians, sports executives and business leaders that the campaign to bring the Summer Olympics to Tokyo again should be a national one, instead of Tokyo's regional one.
According to officials of the Japan Olympic Committee, the bid committee is scheduled to submit the draft outline to the International Olympic Committee in January.
The IOC will choose the host city for the 2016 Olympics at its general meeting in Copenhagen in October 2009.