Hello high-tech! Preview of 2020 Tokyo Olympics

A robot directs you to your stadium seat, while artificial meteorites streak across the sky. Down below, hundreds of performers decked out in traditional Japanese costumes glide through the arena. You take all this in, as a multilingual translation app on your smartphone describes what’s going on.

It sounds like science fiction, but this is the vision that Japan wants to bring to life.

Welcome to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – an event that Japan hopes will symbolize the country’s high-tech cool, and draw in visitors.

Robot villages and meteorite showers

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Updated 11:23 AM EDT, Mon August 22, 2016

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Japan's robot revolution

08:01 - Source: CNN

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s show-stopping appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Games in Rio, dressed as iconic game character Super Mario, already sets the tone for what lies in store.

Japan is known internationally for its technological innovations, so Tokyo 2020 organizers are aiming to launch ambitious tech projects that will boost the economy and wow crowds.

Tourists staying next to the Olympic Village in Tokyo’s Odaiba neighborhood can choose, for example, to hang out with robot helpers of all sizes and sorts that offer up tips on the best transport, food and entertainment options in Tokyo.

And that won’t be the only place they’ll encounter their robotic counterparts.

With the government aiming to triple their spending on robotics, visitors are sure to see them in the place of human concierges at hotels and airports, where they’ll be on hand to meet and greet you.

Japanese company Robot Taxi Inc. is also working on driverless vehicles that visitors will be to ride from stadium to stadium, while Panasonic is creating translation gadgets that can be worn around visitors’ necks.

And during sporting events, visitors might catch human referees using 3D laser technology to analyze a gymnast’s complex motions, allowing them to give out more accurate scores.

To top it all, Tokyo 2020 might even showcase a shower of man-made meteorites in the place of fireworks. ALE – the Japanese space startup that aims to bring this show on the road – want to trial their idea as early as 2018.

Kengo Kuma’s stadium

National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo —

Today's stadiums are architectural feats of design that can elevate the senses, capture the spirit of a community, and become an icon of the city long after a sports event ends. Celebrity Iraqi-born British architect, Zaha Hadid's design for the 2020 Olympic stadium in Tokyo won an international competition, but has received criticism. Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki described it as, "A turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away." The 83-year-old warned: "Tokyo will surely be burdened with a gigantic white elephant." Not all new stadiums receive such objections.

National Olympic Stadium, Tokyo —

"While the New National Stadium in Tokyo will be used for the 2020 Olympic Games, the stadium is being built to host the widest variety of events in the future. Its first major international event will actually be as a venue for Japan's hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup -- the first country in Asia to host the event," said Jim Heverin, director at Zaha Hadid Architects which designed the arena. "The key to a successful stadium is to design for these long term requirements, rather than the one-off event such as the Olympics."

Borisov Arena, Belarus —

Here, the distinctive "spotty" Borisov Arena in Belarus is home to the country's football team. The space-age arena opened earlier this year and cost $37 million.

Borisov Arena, Belarus —

"The shape of the arena works perfectly both in terms of acoustics, as well as creating an introverted atmosphere," said designer Spela Videcnik, from Ofis Architects. "This introversion helps players to focus on a match, and the acoustics create a great supporting atmosphere."

Amazon Arena, Brazil —

Built for this year's World Cup in Manaus, Brazil, the Amazon Arena's reptilian facade was inspired by wildlife in the surrounding rainforest.

Amazon Arena, Brazil —

"If you look into the structures of nature like a leaf, or the skin of a snake, there's always a logical system behind it," explained stadium designer Hubert Nienhoff, of GMP Architects.

Amazon Arena, Brazil —

"We're not in direct dialogue with the supporters," said Nienhoff. "But we have to understand their social and cultural background, the region and its history. That way we capture the whole spirit of the place."

Moses Mabhida Stadium, South Africa —

Nienhoff also designed the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, for the 2010 South African World Cup.

Moses Mabhida Stadium, South Africa —

"The mayor asked us for something that would 'put Durban on the map,'" said Neinhoff.

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Spain —

His architecture firm is also behind the $500m redevelopment of Real Madrid's home -- the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Spain —

"We were inspired by medieval cathedrals, with all their sculptures and paintings around the building telling their stories," architect Volkwin Marg told CNN.

Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Spain —

Housing a retail area, restaurants and hotel among the attractions under its metallic membrane, the multipurpose arena will transform a stadium where construction began 70 years ago.

Al-Wakrah Stadium, Qatar —

Hadid's firm is also behind the 2020 World Cup stadium in Qatar. "The local Al Wakrah football team has been consulted throughout the design development by the client, as they will be the users of the stadium for generations after the 2020 Qatar World Cup," said Heverin.

Al-Wakrah Stadium, Qatar —

"There remains an ancient desire of humans to congregate together to watch others perform," said Jim Heverin, director at Zaha Hadid Architects. "So in many ways a stadium still needs to perform the same function as the Colosseum, and in many ways the success of future stadiums will be the ability to maintain the sense of collective congregation and a shared experience, whilst incorporating new demands."

Luanda Multisports Pavilion, Angola —

Shortlisted in the sports category at this year's World Architecture Festival, the Luanda Multisports Pavilion, in Angola may not appear particularly striking during the day...

Luanda Multisports Pavilion, Angola —

... but at night its exterior panels light up in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors. "More important then capturing the spirit of a country or city, is to be able to read the dreams and hopes of its inhabitants," designers, Berger Architects, said of $90 million building.

Singapore Sports Hub —

Winner of the sports category at this year's World Architecture Festival, the $1.3 billion Singapore Sports Hub features a 55,000-seater stadium, swimming pool complex and water sports facilities.

Singapore Sports Hub —

"I don't think anyone had really designed a successful stadium for the tropics before," said architect Clive Lewis of Arup Assocites. "In the past, if they had a tropical rainstorm they pretty much had to cancel the event. And that's where the dome roof concept came from."

Berlin Olympic Stadium, Germany —

One of the biggest challenges for a stadium is to continue surviving the community long after a major sports event has ended. The Olympic Stadium in Berlin was originally constructed for the 1936 Games.

Berlin Olympic Stadium, Germany —

It was later redeveloped by GMP Architects and opened in 2004, eventually hosting games during the 2006 World Cup.

The future of sports stadium architecture

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The controversy that erupted over the late British-Palestinian architect Zaha Hadid’s now ditched futuristic design may have initially dampened everyone’s excitement.

But no Olympic games are complete without a signature national stadium.

Leading Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s new design reimagines traditional styles of Japanese buildings for the 21st century.

His oval, wooden-latticed structure, that will be the centerpiece of the 2020 games, seems set on allowing visitors to experience a space that mixes some futuristic undertones with Japan’s love of wooden structures.

Tokyo’s charm

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Updated 11:23 AM EDT, Mon August 22, 2016

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00:10 - Source: CNN

In 2015, Tokyo topped The Safe Cities Index in terms of digital and health security, infrastructure and personal safety, so visitors don’t have much to worry about in the way of crime and violence that has dogged Rio.

The city boasts a mosaic of cool neighborhoods, each packed full of cafés, clubs, restaurants, art spaces and shopping malls. And despite its 13 million-strong population and densely packed buildings, Tokyo was also rated as the “most livable city” of 2015 in global affairs magazine Monocle’s annual “Quality of Life” survey.

“Everybody can experience hypermodern living and respect for historic values in Tokyo,” Hikariko Ono, a spokeswoman from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Committee, told CNN. “We’re proud of the public safety records, infrastructure, and hospitality.”

In Japan, omotenashi is a word that reflects a Japanese style of hospitality and service as visiting guests are placed on a pedestal and treated with utmost respect.

Ono believed that Olympics volunteers as well as Tokyoites in the service sectors would be welcoming visitors with this spirit in 2020.

Yet to make sure that everything runs ultra-smoothly, Tokyo will still need to sort out some congestion issues and make sure that there are enough hotels to cope with the influx of Olympic athletes and visitors that descend on the city in 2020.

Reinventing the capital

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Updated 11:23 AM EDT, Mon August 22, 2016

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Five sports added to Tokyo's Olympics

01:00 - Source: CNN

2020 won’t be the first time that Tokyo holds a summer Olympics. Back in 1964, Japan became the first Asian country to host the games.

“1964 was the crowning achievement for post-war Japan,” Sandra Collins, a specialist in Japanese Olympics history, told CNN.

“The Japanese wanted to show the world that were no longer a war-mongering nation…that they had arrived on the international world stage as a team player.”

In 2020, the Tokyo Olympic committee, said Collins, aims to promote a similar message of hope, while also emphasizing what Japan is known for among the international community: technology and safety.

“I think the kind of hope that Japan is trying to perpetuate both domestically and internationally is that it still had the wherewithal, despite being an aging population with stagnant growth,” said Collins.

“Japan wants to show that they can be resourceful in the way that most modern cities and nations will have to be in this kind of turbulent global society.”