The Japan Sport Council began three days of deliberations with experts including the Japan Olympic Committee and athletes "who will provide their input on two designs proposals that have been shortlisted to be the main stadium for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo," according to XINHUA. The two current rival proposals "have been submitted by two bidders, who, as yet, have remained officially unnamed, with both designs boasting environmentally-conscious wooden columns and roofing fixtures, in a bid to blend with the city's natural surroundings, with one of the stadiums being partly built underground to further merge the structure with the surrounding environment." Both proposals come in at less than 150B yen ($1.23B) "with construction slated to begin by the end of November 2019." The country's sports promoting body "will be in charge of building the new stadium and the two renderings were posted on its website on Monday" (XINHUA, 12/15). NHK reported JSC President Kazumi Ohigashi began meeting people involved in track and field, football and rugby "to exchange views" on the two designs. Ohigashi "first spoke with officials of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, including its president, Hiroshi Yokokawa." The JAAF "did not offer an assessment of the designs, but asked for measures to facilitate athletes' movement and to deal with the summer heat" (NHK, 12/15).
