Nagoya, Japan, May 2, 2025: Despite persistent rain in Nagoya on Friday morning, OCA Coordination Committee members could still feel the Olympic spirt in the Athletes’ Plaza for the 20th Asian Games.
After a day of presentations and discussions on Thursday, the committee members were taken to Garden Pier at the Port of Nagoya where a community of Asian Games Villas (temporary container homes) will accommodate 2,400 athletes and officials.
Together with 4,600 athletes and officials on a cruise ship docked at the Kinjo Pier, 6.5km away, this will form the Athletes’ Plaza to cater for 7,000 participants – almost half the expected total of 15,000 athletes and officials from the OCA’s 45 National Olympic Committees.
A viewing tower over Garden Pier identified the areas for the 400 Asian Games Villas – each home accommodating up to six people – along with the green spaces for rest and relaxation, the NOC Services Centre, NOC offices, gymnasium, transport mall and dining hall.
From there, the tour bus travelled to Kinjo Pier, where the ocean liner will be docked for the duration of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games from September 19 to October 4, 2026.
OCA Coordination Committee member Manh Van Tran is confident that the organisers will provide a comfortable and convenient environment for the athletes.
“The Japanese people are very detailed,” he said. “I was an official for the Vietnam Olympic Committee at the Asian Games in Hiroshima in 1994 and nobody had any complaints. I think we will have a perfect Asian Games in 2026.
“I am very happy with the visit and I think everything is very comfortable and a good environment by the sea. This is the first time for the Asian Games to use a cruise ship, villas and other accommodation and it is according to the Nagoya conditions.
“There will be a shuttle bus between the cruise ship at Kinjo Pier and the villas at Garden Pier and everything will be comfortable and convenient during the Games.”
Organisers have also established an area within the Athletes’ Plaza where athletes can mingle and watch cultural performances and other activities.
The two-day OCA Coordination Committee continued with an afternoon visit to Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, venue for badminton, and was due to close with a joint OCA-AINAGOC press conference at the Nagoya Tokyu Hotel.
