Sustainability initiative will support construction of the Athletes’ Village
Tokyo, 18 October 2017 - The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
(Tokyo 2020) today announced details of the 62 municipalities across Japan which have volunteered to
participate in its Operation "BATON" sustainability programme. BATON stands for "Building Athletes’
village with Timber Of the Nation," and is an initiative to construct the Village Plaza for the Olympic and
Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 using timber produced in the participating municipalities.
"Sustainability" and "engaging all of Japan" are the key driving forces behind this project, which will see
communities across Japan lending locally produced timber for use in the construction of the Village Plaza.
After the Games, the Plaza will be dismantled and the timber returned to the municipalities for them to
re-use.
The Village Plaza will be one of the main facilities in the Athletes’ Village as well as the venue for team
welcome ceremonies, which will put the facility in the public spotlight when these ceremonies are covered
by the media. The Plaza will house a media centre, cafés, florists and general shops as well as provide
services to the athletes, visiting accredited Olympic and Paralympic families, members of the media, and
guests of the athletes.
Participating municipalities
Type Project Organisations (municipalities)
Per building1
Iwate Prefecture
Yamagata Prefecture
Gifu Prefecture, Seki City, Nakatsugawa City, Gujo City, Gero City, Shirakawa Town,
Higashishirakawa Village (total 7 municipalities)
Kumamoto Prefecture
Nichinan City in Miyazaki Prefecture
Tokyo3
Per material2 Monbetsu City in Hokkaido Prefecture
Shimokawa Town in Hokkaido Prefecture
Oketo Town in Hokkaido Prefecture
Engaru Town in Hokkaido Prefecture
Aomori Prefecture
Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture
Tome City in Miyagi Prefecture
Akita Prefecture
Odate City in Akita Prefecture
Yamagata City in Yamagata Prefecture
Kaneyama Town in Yamagata Prefecture
Fukushima Prefecture
Tochigi Prefecture, Kanuma City, Nikko City (total 3 municipalities)
Chiba Prefecture
Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture
Hadano City in Kanagawa Prefecture
Niigata Prefecture, Kashiwazaki City, Tokamachi City, Murakami City, Itoigawa City, Joetsu City,
Yuzawa Town, Sekikawa Village (total 8 municipalities)
Yamanashi Prefecture
Neba Village, Kawakami Village, Tenryu Village in Nagano Prefecture (total 3 municipalities)
Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka City in Shizuoka Prefecture
Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture
Oyama Town in Shizuoka Prefecture
Wakayama Prefecture
Tottori Prefecture
Chizu Town in Tottori Prefecture
Shimane Prefecture
Okayama Prefecture
Tokushima Prefecture
Seiyo City in Ehime Prefecture
Kochi Prefecture, Kami City, Otoyo City (total 3 municipalities)
Nagasaki Prefecture
Oita Prefecture, Hita City, Saiki City (total 3 municipalities)
Miyazaki Prefecture
Kagoshima Prefecture
Total 41 project organisations (62 municipalities)4
1 Volunteer participation on the scale of buildings comprising relatively small rooms.
2 Volunteer participation on the scale of materials for relatively large spaces.
3 Tokyo is participating as the Host City.
4 Applications by multiple local governments under a joint name are treated as one project organisation.
Artist renditions of the Plaza:
Exterior Interior
Note: Images are based on current plans, which are subject to change
For more information: Tokyo 2020 Online Press Room, ID: media password: tokyo2020media
International Communications
Tatsuo OGURA Tristan LAVIER Junichi SATO Kaho AKIYAMA
tatsuo.ogura@tokyo2020.jp tristan.lavier@tokyo2020.jp junichi.sato@tokyo2020.jp kaho.akiyama@tokyo2020.jp
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