JAPAN “SPORT MAD”

Evening Star, Issue 22539, 6 January 1937, Page 5

JAPAN “SPORT MAD”

PREPARATIONS FOR 1940 OLYMPICS HIGHLY EFFICIENT TECHNICAL FACILITIES When the International Olympic Committee met in Berlin on August 1 and voted to accept Tokio’s invitation to come to the Japanese capital in 1940, several precedents were set (writes Stuart Lillico, in the Johannesburg ‘ Star ’). It was the first time that the world’s premier athletic contest has ever been awarded to the Far East. More 1 fhan that, it afforded recognition to the startling rise from obscurity achieved by the Nipponese runners, jumpers, and swimmers in _ the last three decades. At Berlin this summer 240 men and women wore the rising sun flag on thir jerseys, the biggest Japanese delegation ever sent to a foreign competition of this kind. Tokio made a determined bid for the Games. Not only did it want the recognition. but 1940 is the 2,600 th anniversary of the legendary founding of the Japanese Empire. With' a big exposition already planned, the knowledge that the country will also be host to the world’s finest athletic talent artd thousands of sports fans, probably means that the Japanese will undo themselves in the celebration. Three days after factory whistles, newspaper extras, and fireworks announced’ the decision of. the committee in Berlin, technical experts in Tokio began work on detailed plans for 1940. And some of those plans are of a startling nature. A stadium, bigger than those in either Los Angeles or Berlin, the Shrine Gardens, already the best of its kind in the world, will have its seating capacity more than doubled. A new and finer yacht basin will be constructed at Yokohama for the marine events, a special rowing canal will be dredged, and the famous Hokkaido ski runs will be and improved to equal the best in Europe or America, built to seat 120,000 spectators. All this is in addition to elaborate plans on. augmented hotel and other accommodations in the city of Tokio itself. Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, chairman of the International Olympic Committee, visited Japan early in the spring and was shown the plans drawn up in Tokio in anticiption of the decision. The best word the count could think of later to describe them was “ fantastic.” Tokio’s athletic facilities are now largely centred in the area known as the Outer Garden of the Meiji Shrine. This tract of nearly 200 acres near the centre of modern Tokio was before 1915 a military parade ground. As part of the memorial, to the Emperor Meiji, it was converted into a vast sports centre. The athletic plant there to-day compares favourably with any in the world. _JTwo big stadiums handle 60,000 and 55,000 spectators respectively, the first devoted to track meets, football games, and similar events, and the second to baseball. Nearby is the Meiji Shrine Pool, with a seating.capacity of about 15,000. It was built in 1930 to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions that Japan’s swimmers would meet at Los Angeles two years later. “ Japan’s technical facilities are numerous and are models of efficiency,” the Olympic chairman told a friend after after returning to his home in' Brussels from Japan. “ The stadiums, pools, and other game sites run by the athletic associations and sports clubs are the finest I have ever seen anywhere in the world.” HUGE TRACK STADIUM. (But most of tbs equipment will be discarded for the 1940 Games. The big track stadium will be used for practice only. A bigger one will be erected in an adjoining private estate that will be incorporated with the Shrine Gardens. It will seat 180,000. The swimming pool will have its seating capacity doubled. A separate stadium is to be built for football, field hockey, Rugby, and cycling. In addition to these more spectacular projects, minor sports will be well taken care of. An equestrian stadium is planned on the site of the present army motor transport school, located not far from the Meiji Shrine Gardens. The present army rifle range just outside the city will be used for international competitions. An auditorium for indoor events, boxing, _ fencing, weight-lifting, and gymnastics, is to rise downdown. This building, money for whch has already been received from a private donor, will also be used to house the women athletes. A second auditorium will be built in the sports centre itself, involving the roofing over of the present Japanese wrestling arena, which seats 10,000. It will be used for wrestling and for basketball. Tennis courts, nearly equalling Wimgledon in magnitude, are planned next to the swimming pool. This is in addition to a huge plant being raised this summer outside the city by one of the Tokio newspapers. The present shrine ball_ park will be used without alteration for ceremonies and for baseball games, THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE. .Accommodation for the athletes will follow the plan inaugurated by Los Angeles in constructing an Olympic Village. Two alternative sites have been planned, each outside the city proper, but within easy distance of the Shrine Gardens by electric line. One is on the banks of the Tamagawa River, the other in the wooded country bordering the same stream west of the city. The houses themselves will be of light, typically Japanese construction. So determined are ithe Japanese that all this new equipment shall be the best possible they have commissioned Dr Hideto Kishida, professor of architecture at the Tokio Imperial University, to go abroad to study the design and construction of American and European stadiums and similar athletic equipment. He is ill Europe now, CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME. This huge programme of construction is expected to cost approximately 5,000,000 dollars. A fair proportion of this amount has already been pledged by Japanese business interests, the Japanese Government, and the Tokio city administration. The balance is expected to be obtained from the receipts of the Games. Count de Baillet-Latour questioned the Japanese athletic officials closely on this aspect of their plans, stressing the fact that playing host to the Games is a tremendous and expensive undertaking. Before leaving he told newspaper men that he was perfectly confident that Tokio could handle the financial end successfully. CATERING FOR WESTERN PALATES. Just as important as athletic equipment to the modern Olympiad are bote's. Not even the most enthusiastic booster for Tokio can maintain that present accommodations are adequate.

However, provision for this has been included in the committee’s plans. ~ The famous Imperial Hotel, the outstanding Western-style establishment in the city, is to be more than doubled in size in the next three years, this whether Tokio was awarded the Games or not. The Japanese Government railways likewise have completed plans for a brand new hostelry near the centre of the city to be completed before the summer of 1940. Incidentally the Imperial Hotel has already received 20 reservations for rooms during the 1940 Games. The first was sent in May by a Honolulu business man. Japan is going to try something new in this line, however. Tokio has a multitude of Japanese-style inns of all sizes, probably with sufficient capacity to-day to take care of all the visitors to the Olympics. Believing that Westerners will enjoy living in native style for a while, the committee is already making plans for remodelling these establishments sufficiently to meet “ foreign ” tastes Those who are perplexed at the idea of sleeping on the floor as the Japanese do will find real beds awaiting themI althoiigh tlie chances are that they will

he a bit short. Puritans who shrink from the truly luxuriant Japanese community bathing facilities will be directed to the conventional Western threequarter length bath, tub, scented soap, and Turkish towel. in addition, Tokio has a real attraction in the dozens of hot spring resorts located in the hills and at the seasides within an hour or two of the sports centre. All are well provided with inns, and several have foreign-style hotels. Visitors to the Games can follow the example of many business men, who commute back and forth from these resorts during the summer. Mention of summer brings up the Japanese climate. This was one point on which the Olympic committee has, been unable to promise a new _ deal. There is no denying that Tokio is hot in the summer. In its defence it must be pointed out, however,. that there is usually a cool breeze blowing before the day is over. Tokio is near the ocean, and that .helps considerably. At the same time, major athletic interests such as the Olympics do much better in hot weather than in cool, and from mid-July to mid-August this is almost a 100 per cent, certainty that Tokio will be unfailingly sunny.

Japan’s comparative isolation fron| the rest of the sporting world hag been the cause of some worry. Undoubtedly European nations would rather have seen Finland selected. _ However, as the Japanese point out with justice, every i Olympiad but that in 1932 has been held in Europe, and the athletes from Asia have had to do the travelling. Actually for North or South America there was little difference in the cost or time involved in getting to -Tokio. or Helsingfors. Japan is within two week* of every major competing country except Australia and South Africa,' and ia still closer to Sydney than is London. - SPORTS MAD. Japan is literally sports mad. Then. 1 is no minor sport in this country that is not paying its way. Even minor intercollegiate events, such as track meets, field hockey, and basketball, which in • most lands have to be .supported by the profit from football and baseball games, attract thousands of devotees. Tokio is looking forward to the almost 100 per cent, certainty that 1 every seat will be sold in advance. - And, incidentally, ticket “ scalping is officially discouraged in Japan.