The Japan Sports Council announced that the "main construction work for the new National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics began Thursday, about 14 months later than originally planned," according to KYODO. The groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium will take place Dec. 11, "with construction scheduled to be completed" at the end of Nov. '19. Under the original plan, construction of the main stadium for the 2020 Games was to begin in October last year, "but the scheme was scrapped following public outcry over ballooning cost estimates for the design by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid." In October, the council agreed to a contract worth about 149B yen ($1.3B) "with a joint venture including Taisei" (KYODO, 12/1).
VOLLEYBALL: In a separate piece, KYODO reported Yokohama has "sent a letter to the Tokyo metropolitan government indicating its readiness to host the volleyball competition of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but only if certain conditions are met." As a way to reduce expenditures for the 2020 Games, Yokohama Arena has been "proposed as a venue for the volleyball instead of a facility in Tokyo's Ariake district that has yet to be constructed." In the letter, the Yokohama municipal government said, "The most important thing is that the sporting bodies and the International Olympic Committee are in agreement." The letter also said that Yokohama would do "everything it could to cooperate for the success of the Olympics," while insisting that the metropolitan government and the Olympic organizers would have to negotiate for the use of private land and explain road closures to Yokohama residents (KYODO, 12/1).