Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A group of Tokyo citizens have filed an online petition against the pruning of trees in Yoyogi Park, the largest in central Tokyo, to accommodate the public for the Olympic Games, which will start in July.

The project envisions cutting down trees that are over 8 meters high and pruning others to accommodate more than 35,000 people a day to watch sports events.

The signatories of this petition are concerned that the trees will not be able to return to their original form.

Visitors have limited access to the public park, which is adjacent to the iconic National Olympic Gymnasium designed by architect Kenzo Tange, due to the pruning work that began on June 1.

On the Tokyo city website, an apology message is addressed to regular park users.

In the archives of the International Olympic Committee, it is mentioned that the south-eastern part of the park still has plants that foreign athletes helped to cultivate around the time of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The 1964 Games symbolically marked Japan as a peaceful country open to the world.  In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Japanese are wary about opening the country up to thousands of foreigners.