Team Japan seeks alternative digs as housing issues dog home Asian Games

Accommodation problems have persisted in the weeks leading up to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with Japan facing challenges even within their own team. The host nation's athletes were placed in shared rooms alongside members of the opposite sex in some instances, while coaches and officials were sometimes grouped together with players.

This occurred despite local organizers opting not to construct a dedicated Athletes Village and instead seeking innovative solutions to house the 17,000 competitors and officials expected at the Games, which commence on Saturday. The issue arose after an increase in the number of participants following the addition of new sports.

Japan's deputy Chef de Mission, Hisashi Mizutori, reported that the process of registering athletes at the newly arrived Italian cruise ship, set to accommodate 4,000 participants, has been lengthy and has left some athletes waiting for hours. The local organizing committee acknowledged that the accommodation crisis stemmed from their initial expectation of 15,000 attendees, but Mizutori noted that the Japanese Olympic Committee had secured backup hotel rooms as a contingency plan.