Asian Games organizers defend cramped accommodation amid resident concerns

Local organizers of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games again defended the athletes' accommodation on Thursday after local residents added their voices to concerns about the shipping-container style huts.

Organizers scrapped original plans for a dedicated Athletes' Village to control costs. Instead, 17,000 athletes and officials are staying in a mix of hotels, container-style modular units, and a chartered cruise ship.

A number of athletes have voiced dissatisfaction over the dimensions of their cabins and beds — a criticism that resonated with local citizens who toured a prototype unit set up near the Nagoya TV Tower in the heart of the city.

"Once inside, I noticed that the space was quite long and narrow," 49-year-old nurse Wada, who shared her surname only, told Reuters.

"If two beds were placed side-by-side, it might feel a little cramped there."

Atsuko Sasa, 55, another resident living in Aichi prefecture, felt the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games Organising Committee (AINAGOC) could have planned better.

"I understand that it's a difficult situation, but when it comes to the environment (for athletes), I do wish we had been a little more prepared," she said.

AINAGOC official Yuta Matsuo, however, maintained that athlete feedback had been taken into consideration from the very beginning.

"We recognized from the start that such comments would come," the deputy director of the athlete accommodation section told reporters.

"We knew from the start that there would be athletes with larger and different body types. For each bed we have provided an ottoman that extends the bed's length."

Matsuo added that transporting any larger structures was not a logistical possibility.

"The units we're using are the largest size that can be transported by truck. Anything larger becomes closer to construction; you can no longer build it at the factory and move it.

"So we used the maximum size and joined units together to make a certain amount of space."

-Writing by Amlan Chakraborty in Nagoya; editing by Neil Fullick/Reuters