Japan's Asian Games in Nagoya Marred by Accommodation Chaos, Transport Errors and Diplomatic Blunders

Some of the tallest athletes at this year's Asian Games in Nagoya found they could not stretch out on their beds. A senior Korean basketball official said so about the container-style units where players were housed, and it became one of the first signs that the Games, spread across Nagoya and the wider Aichi Prefecture, were in trouble.

Japan has a strong record of hosting major international events, from the Olympics to Tokyo's annual video game convention. But organisers had made a cost-saving decision to skip a traditional athletes' village. Participants were put in hotels and container-style units around Nagoya instead. Even before competition began, delegations were complaining of too few rooms and poor-quality accommodation.

The numbers made it worse. Organisers had arranged lodging for up to 15,000 delegation members, in line with the host city contract, according to Takaaki Omi, the Games' deputy director general. As more sports were added, that figure grew by 2,000, to 17,000. The city's capacity was strained so badly that an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 cabins was brought in to fill the gap. Organisers first said there was simply nowhere to put the late arrivals and told them to make their own arrangements. They then reversed course, releasing a joint statement with the Olympic Council of Asia promising that all of the "17,000-plus" guests would receive Games-appropriate accommodation.

The problems did not stop there. Athletes were bussed to the wrong venues. The North Korean anthem was played for the South Korean men's hockey team. At the men's football gold medal ceremony, the South Korean flag was not raised properly. Taiwan's sports minister was temporarily barred from a flag-raising event. Near the end, volunteers were emailed an invitation to the closing ceremony free of charge, only for an organiser to say later that free tickets were still under review and had not been approved. Officials sent a formal apology to South Korea over the mishaps affecting its delegation. Online, some commenters called it the "worst Games in history" and demanded a "full investigation".

Omi acknowledged that the incidents, at an event larger than the Paris Olympics by number of participants, had caused significant inconvenience for some delegations. He said each day brought unexpected issues, and that organisers listened to athletes' feedback and made improvements.

Local media turned their attention to the company running venue operations, the Japanese subsidiary of France's GL Events. It had won a 63bn yen (£306m; $405m) contract over Dentsu Group, the advertising giant with a long history of running sporting events in Japan, which had been sidelined after a criminal bid-rigging conviction. A source told Kyodo news agency that GL Events was "overwhelmingly cheaper" than the alternatives. Last week the Tokyo Shimbun alleged that the firm cut corners aggressively on hiring, leaving too few experienced staff, and that those recruited were not properly trained. Omi countered that GL Events has experience in international events, including the Paris Olympics, and said the necessary competition environment was in place by the start of competition. GL Events did not respond to the BBC's repeated requests for comment.

Prof Kozo Tomiyama of Osaka University, who studies major sporting events, cautioned against concluding that the firm simply lacked experience. He pointed instead to the "extremely broad" scope of responsibility it was given. He also noted that the contract was negotiated rather than competitively tendered, so the criteria organisers used to judge the contractor, and how they supervised it afterwards, deserve examination. He warned that damaged confidence could hurt Japan's ability to attract future competitions.

Olympic Council of Asia director general Husain al-Musallam pointed to 54 new world records, in swimming, weightlifting and shooting, as evidence of success, saying athletes cannot perform without good sleep and good transport.

The troubles have outlasted the Games. At the ongoing Para Games, the wrong national anthems were played at three events. Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa, who is also deputy head of the organising committee, called that "unacceptable" and apologised. The questions now centre on how the contract was awarded and supervised.