Japan Faces $47 Million Loss Over Scrapped Olympic Stadium

Officials and media said that Japan is "on the hook" to pay as much as 5.9B yen ($47M) "for its scrapped Olympic stadium even though not a single brick has been laid," according to the AFP. The revelation came days after Japan PM Shinzo Abe said the country was going "back to the drawing board" amid a growing chorus of complaints over the 252B yen ($2B) price tag for the planned centerpiece of Tokyo 2020. Tokyo is committed to paying "most" of around 5.9B yen worth of contracts already awarded in connection with the ditched design, citing data from the Japan Sport Council which oversees the project. And, reports warned, "that figure could rise if contractors file lawsuits." Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that "the government would launch an independent panel to study why the issue became such a problem, but he refused to assign blame for the fiasco." Suga: "Our focus is to put all our efforts into a new plan, following the prime minister’s decision. Time is limited" (AFP, 7/23).