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The story
Tokyo Sports reports that the Asian Games currently underway in Aichi and Nagoya have been plagued by a string of operational troubles, warning that this could hurt Japan’s future bids to host the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, and other major international events. Operations are being run mainly by a French events company, and the bare-bones facilities at the athletes’ village have also become a talking point. On 5ch’s general sports news board, threads argued over who’s to blame — echoing the old friction between Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City over co-hosting arrangements — alongside criticism of the Aichi governor who spearheaded the bid, and questions about why overseas media broke the story first while domestic TV has stayed largely quiet. Opinions were split.
Tokyo Sports
September 21, 2026, 06:00
Concerns are mounting that the wave of trouble plaguing the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games could hurt Japan’s future bids to host global events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.
Source: tokyo-sports.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
TV Asahi ran a segment on it this morning
They still owe an explanation for why they handed it over to that company in the first place
To people from other countries this is simply "Japan's Games" — which events company was actually running it isn't an excuse
Because Japan's become a disaster of a country
Governor Omura, who lowered the odds of that, is a true patriot
He's actually the one to blame
Nagoya Mayor: "Co-hosting the Asian Games is off the table" — talks with prefecture collapse
September 5, 2016, 12:43 PM
Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, who had been aiming to co-host the 2026 Asian Games with Aichi Prefecture, announced at a press conference on the 5th that he was "withdrawing the bid," citing the inability to agree with the prefecture on event costs and the cost-sharing split.
Meanwhile, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura expressed shock at his own press conference that same day, saying "There was no advance notice whatsoever." He added, "I don't think this can work without the prefecture and city co-hosting. We'll keep discussing and coordinating."
https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASJ953HG1J95OIPE009.html
The root of all this evil is money-grubbing companies skimming their cut off the top
So France's GL events is the root of all evil, huh?
was also by a French architect, I think
Kind of a strange pattern
If that one had actually gotten built properly, it might have become a real legacy…
Scrapping it just left us with the forgettable National Stadium we have now
They had 10 years to prepare — what were they even doing?
Japan just declined that much over those 10 years
And on top of that, it ballooned to more than three times the original budget
The old media's bashing it too, isn't it?
TBS is involved, so the media's mutual-protection racket has kicked in
Nobody cares
Dream about the good old Showa days all you want, but
if you actually got sent back to the 1950s-60s you wouldn't last a week
Compared to now it was insanely poor and filthy, you'd lose your mind
Because the whole point is skimming money off the top
The events industry can't survive without regularly landing big events to run
India and Thailand were the first ones to blow up about it
At yesterday's Korea-Japan basketball game the bus never showed up, eating into Korea's practice time — and then, maybe they were salty Japan lost, they even congratulated China as the winner, getting the champion wrong. Absolutely terrible.
Probably the volunteers who don't do any work
Omura, who pushed hard for the bid
I read an old article about it —
he was going on about wanting to raise Aichi's profile since the Tokyo-Nagoya maglev line opens in 2027
Japanese TV stations alone are just bizarre about this
Well, TBS is involved, so it's the classic old-media press-club collusion
Without them, running things properly is apparently impossible
No way, no way
The French operator was just even worse — doesn't change the fact that those two companies suck too
It's just rows of what look like temporary disaster-relief housing
Kind of like a dry run for the expected Nankai Trough megaquake
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Back in 2016, Nagoya City temporarily withdrew from co-hosting after failing to agree with Aichi Prefecture on the budget, and organizing responsibility ultimately fell to the French events company GL events. The preparation budget has swelled to more than three times the original estimate, reportedly totaling around 370 billion yen. On the question of accountability, the dominant view in the thread was that even though operations were outsourced to a foreign company, the event is still seen abroad simply as “Japan’s Games,” so the Aichi Prefecture officials who pushed for the bid can’t dodge responsibility. Another point of debate was the gap in media coverage: posters repeatedly noted that while overseas outlets like the BBC broke the story first, domestic Japanese TV has given it strikingly light coverage — though the reasons for that remain speculation rather than confirmed fact. Some also framed it as “only Korea is complaining,” but in reality India, Thailand, and other countries raised complaints early on too, so reducing the reaction to a single country doesn’t match reality.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Sports News Express+) thread “[Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games] Nonstop Trouble Bound to Hurt Olympic and World Cup Bids — “Japan’s Credibility Is Taking a Hit,” “This Is an International Incident”.”
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