Design
Japan's Scaled-Down Olympics
Officials are already cutting bells and whistles from Zaha Hadid's bold stadium proposal to avoid runaway costs.
Tokyo's Olympic hosting duties are still seven years away. But already, Japan is doing what it can to keep the costs down, a marked contrast to the hoopla that surrounded Beijing and London's building spree.
Exhibit A: Last week, Hakubun Shimomura, Japan's minister for education, sports and science, told Parliament that Zaha Hadid's bold Olympic stadium would have to be scaled back. Officials estimated that the 80,000 seat stadium would cost $3 billion to build, not the originally discussed $1.3 billion.