2020 Olympic chief pushes for a daylight saving time
Tokyo 2020 to up security with facial recognition system
TOKYO: The chief organizer of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics appealed yesterday for Japan to introduce daylight saving time to reduce the effect of the extreme summer heat on athletes and spectators. “I want them to use the Olympics as a way to give a maximum push for the project,” said former prime minister Yoshiro Mori after meeting current premier Shinzo Abe. Japan is currently sweating through a deadly heatwave that has seen the mercury top 40 degrees in some parts of the country and sparked fears over the well-being of participants at the 2020 games.
Abe responded by urging members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party to consider the plan, according to Toshiaki Endo, a former Olympic minister who attended the meeting. Japan adopted daylight saving time in 1948 under US occupation after defeat in World War II but scrapped it four years later amid concerns it was encouraging longer work hours. The idea has won favor from some in business and politics as a way to allow the famously hard-working Japanese to enjoy longer summer evenings with their families. But critics say extending daylight hours risks people staying in the office longer, hindering official efforts to clamp down on overtime.
In Tokyo, the sun sets at around 7pm, even at the height of summer. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters that it was just one proposal among many to mitigate the effects of the heat. “However, the measure would have a significant impact on the everyday lives of the Japanese people and we only have two years before the event,” Suga warned. He said officials were drafting plans to lessen the impact of the hot weather, including early starting times for competitions and laying special pavement to reduce road surface temperature. “We are already taking comprehensive and thorough measures,” he said.
Facial recognition system
Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympics to use facial recognition technology to increase security around all venues, the organizers announced yesterday. Games organizers have linked up with Japanese telecommunications and information technology giant NEC to develop the first system of this kind to be implemented at an Olympics. The technology, which was demonstrated to the media at an event in the Japanese capital, will use IC chips within identification cards to automatically verify the identity of those entering over 40 venues.
More than 300,000 athletes and Games staff will have to submit photographs to a database before the Olympics start in July 2020. “Every time they enter the facility, they have to do a security check,” explained Tokyo 2020’s head of security Tsuyoshi Iwashita. “Tokyo’s venues doesn’t always have enough space for the security check or even space to wait for the security check. When the events are happening, we expect many people to come and the weather will be very hot. This is why we introduced this facial recognition.”
The system will not be aimed at spectators and will instead concentrate on strengthening security and decreasing waiting times for athletes. “More than 40 facilities, including the main stadium, International Broadcast Centre, the Olympic village and so on, will have the facial recognition system,” said NEC Senior Vice President Masaaki Suganuma.
“Athletes, Games staff, volunteers and the media will have this recognition.” NEC said they tested the technology during the Rio 2016 Olympics and that the technology has already been implemented in various locations, including airports. During the demonstration to media, the technology correctly identified a string of people, including those in wheelchairs and of varying heights, which is a key feature of NEC’s system. Suanuma said: “99.7 percent of the time, the face is recognized by the system correctly. “This number will not change according to nationality or if big or small.”—Agencies