Photo/Illutration People line up for music concert at the Tokyo Ariake Arena in Koto Ward on Feb. 14. (Shin Kasahara)

The only venue built for the 2020 Tokyo Games that is considered a post-Olympics financial success has been a source of nightmares for residents in the area.

The metropolitan government built the Tokyo Ariake Arena in Koto Ward at a cost of 35.7 billion yen ($269 million).

Completed in 2019 in the Tokyo Bay area, the arena was used for volleyball and wheelchair basketball events in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Its main arena has a capacity of 15,000.

It was one of six facilities built for the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were delayed and held in 2021 without spectators in the stands because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The other five facilities have been bleeding red ink since the Games ended.

But the Ariake Arena, which reopened as a multi-use facility in summer 2022, has forecast annual profits of 360 million yen by hosting sports and live music events.

Tokyo Ariake Arena Inc., the facility’s operator, said it expects to pull in 1.02 million people annually.

Since the reopening, the venue has featured big headliners, such as the Backstreet Boys, Perfume and Hinatazaka46.

It was also the venue where Naoya Inoue unified all four major boxing titles in the bantamweight division in December.

But crowds for such events have created monster headaches for residents in the area.

“We have experienced troubles many times a week, and we are annoyed,” said Midori Masuda, who heads an association of residents living in seven nearby apartment buildings.

Across from the arena stand two high-rises—27 stories and 33 stories—where about 800 households live. A road about 10 meters wide separates the arena and the apartment buildings.

About 30 meters from the arena is a nursery school. A university, a public elementary and junior high school, and a private junior and senior high school are located within a 400-meter radius of the Olympic venue.

On a typical day when an event is held at the arena, nearby streets are filled with illegally parked cars featuring out-of-town license plates.

The arena does not have a parking lot.

The closest train station, Ariake-Tennis-no-mori Station on the Yurikamome Line, is a 10-minute walk to the arena.

Many people use taxis to get to and out of the area, which worsens traffic congestion.

Masuda said some people “trespass into the apartment buildings, park their motorbikes without permission, and even pee in public.”

Tokyo Ariake Arena Inc. has increased security staff from 20 to 40 to prevent littering and to deal with noise complaints.

“We sincerely apologize to residents for any inconvenience,” a representative of the operator said. “We are aware that there are many problems, and we are taking steps by cooperating with the metropolitan government, police and event promoters.”

Masuda said what the residents want is “a shuttle bus operation that takes people to and from central Tokyo.”

“Our living environment and safety need to be secured first for the arena to be operated,” she said. “In this situation, talk about ‘utilizing the Olympic legacy to build a community’ means nothing to us.”

Ariake is part of the “new Tokyo waterfront subcenter” district that the metropolitan government started developing in the late 1980s.

The district includes now-popular tourist destination Odaiba, and Aomi, where offices and research facilities are concentrated.

The metropolitan government originally designated the Ariake-Kita district where the arena is located as a complex urban zone mainly for residential properties.

The two high-rise apartments were completed by 2010.

Currently, 13,000 people live in the Ariake-Kita district.

But in 2013, Tokyo won the bid to host the 2020 Olympics.

The Olympic and Paralympic Village, an accommodation for participating athletes, was built in the nearby Harumi district, and the arena was constructed 2 km from the village.

A metropolitan government official said management of the Tokyo Ariake Arena “is in the operator’s hands.”

“We have received various requests, and we have told the venue about them, asking for a finely tuned response,” the official said.

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