Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe says controversial plans to build a $2 billion (€1.84 billion) new stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be completely scrapped.
The surprise announcement follows a firestorm of criticism that the stadium, designed by London-based architect Zaha Hadid, was too grandiose, costly and environmentally destructive.
Mr Abe said the project was so unpopular the government had to literally go back to the drawing board. “I have been listening to the voices of the people and we cannot continue if we don’t have their support,” he told a live television address on Friday afternoon.
The decision means the stadium will not be available for Japan's hosting of Asia's first Rugby World Cup in 2019, as planned.
A poll in Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, this month said 81 per cent of the public wanted the stadium plans reviewed after the government announced that costs had spiralled to 252 billion yen – 90 billion yen higher than initially estimated.
The much-disparaged design was compared to a flattened bicycle helmet and even a vagina. One of Japan's top architects likened it to a giant turtle "waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away".
The project had already been dogged by budget cuts and design revisions. Last month Hakubun Shimomura, Japan's sports minister, ordered the stadium lowered by five 5metres and a third of its 80,000 seats removed.
The design also triggered a messy feud between Mr Abe's government and Tokyo's governor, Yoichi Masuzoe, who complained about the city's share of the price tag. In May, Mr Masuzoe memorably compared the government's bland reassurances that the project was still on course to Japan's imperial army insisting it was winning the second World War.
Mr Abe’s announcement comes amid falling ratings as he fights to push unpopular Bills expanding Japan’s military role through parliament. Fresh opinion surveys this week suggest his cabinet’s support has dipped below 40 per cent.
Some analysts were cynical of the timing, which allows Mr Abe to appear conciliatory while perhaps deflecting attention from the security legislation.
“The presentation of the cancellation as a top-down decision of a leader who ‘listens to the voice of the people’ makes the whole story look like a cheap theatre play,” said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Japan’s original estimate for the stadium and the entire Games soared amid a building boom following the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. Last year the city was forced to renege on promises that nearly all the sports venues would be within 8km of the Olympic Village.
Protesters had vowed to block construction of the stadium before it overwhelmed the outer gardens of Meiji Shrine, one of the capital’s historic highlights and few large green areas.
The stadium symbolised two competing versions of 2020. City planners wanted to use the Games as a launch pad for a great leap forward, pushing through prestigious projects and elbowing aside obstacles. But critics said the emphasis should be on a scaled-down Olympics that used existing facilities where possible.
