Timber lobby protests plastic seats at Tokyo’s woody stadium

The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have revealed the latest mock-ups of the main stadium, designed by architect Kengo Kuma.

The interior of the ground will have a scaled-down, wood-rich Japanese-style interior décor, especially in the roof section and the underside of eaves.

However most of the 60,500 seats will be made from plastic, apart from those set aside for VIPs, which will be made of wood, and will have the best views of the action.  

Yasuhide Nakayama, a Liberal Democratic Party MP who lobbies for Japan’s timber industry, said: "We’re very disappointed with the decision. We will still continue to propose that wooden seats be introduced, as making use of this domestic natural resource will prove beneficial to maintaining the mountain environment and preventing disasters such as landslides."

The $1.3bn stadium is to be built by a team led by the Taisei Corporation. It is due to be completed by November 2019.

Image: The latest image of the main Olympic stadium (Tokyo 2020)

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