Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026: How Japan Is Taking the Games Beyond Nagoya

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 will not be confined to a single city. While Nagoya and the wider Aichi Prefecture will remain at the heart of the continental sporting extravaganza, competitions will also be staged across several other parts of Japan, creating one of the most geographically dispersed editions of the Asian Games.

From the Olympic legacy venues of Tokyo to the cycling facilities of Shizuoka and football and rowing venues in Gifu and Osaka, the Games are making extensive use of existing sporting infrastructure. The approach allows organisers to bring world-class facilities into the competition programme while limiting the need for expensive new construction.

According to the event's infrastructure plan, competition venues will be spread across Aichi, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Gifu and Osaka, with approximately 80 per cent of the sites located in Aichi and the remainder used for specialist sports elsewhere.

Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture will host the majority of the Asian Games 2026 events. Major venues include Paloma Mizuho Stadium, which will stage the opening and closing ceremonies as well as athletics, while the new Aichi International Arena will host basketball and judo. Toyota Stadium will be used for football, while Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname will provide a home for several emerging and urban disciplines.

Badminton will be staged at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, while surfing will take place at Pacific Long Beach in Tahara. This distribution means the Games will showcase considerably more than Nagoya's central sporting infrastructure. Cities and communities across Aichi will become part of the event, giving local spectators opportunities to experience international competition closer to home.

One of the most significant elements of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 venues plan is the use of facilities built for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Swimming and diving will be held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, a major Olympic legacy venue in Koto Ward. The facility will host all 41 swimming gold-medal events as well as the diving programme.

The decision came after organisers determined that Nagoya's Rainbow Pool did not satisfy the requirements needed for swimming at the Asian Games. Rather than constructing a new facility in Aichi, organisers moved the events to Tokyo, where an existing venue already met the required international standards.

Equestrian sport has similarly been allocated to the Tokyo Equestrian Park, another Tokyo 2020 legacy venue. Dressage, eventing and jumping will all be held there. The move demonstrates the broader philosophy behind the Games: use existing infrastructure wherever possible rather than building facilities that may have limited use after the event.

Shizuoka to host cycling and artistic swimming

Shizuoka Prefecture will also play an important role. The Izu Velodrome in Izu will host track cycling. The indoor wooden velodrome previously staged Olympic cycling during Tokyo 2020 and provides a purpose-built environment for elite track competition.

Artistic swimming, meanwhile, will be held at the ToBiO Hamamatsu Swimming Center. These events demonstrate why a decentralised model can be useful. Instead of recreating specialist facilities in Nagoya, Aichi-Nagoya 2026 can utilise venues that already possess the necessary technical specifications.

The Games will extend further west through venues in Gifu and Osaka. Gifu's Nagaragawa Stadium and Regatta Course will host football preliminaries and rowing, while Osaka's Nagai Stadium will stage football preliminary matches.

For athletes competing in these sports, the Asian Games experience will therefore involve travelling beyond the primary Aichi-Nagoya cluster. That creates additional logistical requirements for organisers, particularly around accommodation, transport and competition scheduling. But it also allows the Games to use established sporting facilities across Japan rather than concentrating every event in one region.

Why the venues were moved

The relocation of several sports was not simply a geographical decision. The Rainbow Pool in Nagoya was originally expected to host swimming, but technical inspections found that the facility did not meet the necessary World Aquatics requirements. With limited time remaining and construction costs rising, moving the competition to Tokyo became a more practical solution.

The same principle influenced the decision to use the Tokyo Equestrian Park and Izu Velodrome. The result is an Asian Games that effectively turns existing Japanese sporting infrastructure into a nationwide competition network.

Despite the geographic spread, organisers have created a central public space designed to give the Games a strong identity in Nagoya. ONE ASIA WORLD will transform Hisaya Odori Park into a fan zone, cultural exchange space and public celebration hub during the Asian Games and Asian Para Games.

The concept draws inspiration from the Champions Park created during the Paris 2024 Olympics, but the Nagoya version goes beyond simply celebrating medal winners. The space will combine public screenings, cultural performances, Asian cuisine, interactive sporting activities and sponsor activations. The Live Site at Oasis 21 will allow fans to watch competition broadcasts, while the Crossroads Festival will showcase food, music and performances from across Asia.

Interactive zones will also allow visitors to experience sports and activities themselves, creating a connection between spectators and the Games. The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 are therefore being built around two seemingly contrasting ideas.

The competition itself is geographically dispersed, using venues across five prefectures and making maximum use of existing infrastructure. At the same time, ONE ASIA WORLD provides a central public gathering point where residents and visitors can experience the wider Asian Games atmosphere.

For athletes, this means competing at venues ranging from Tokyo's Olympic legacy facilities to Shizuoka's specialist cycling infrastructure and Aichi's new arenas. For spectators, it offers something different: an opportunity to experience the Asian Games not just inside stadiums, but across the cities and communities of Japan.

The result is an edition that could leave a legacy extending well beyond Nagoya, bringing the Asian Games to multiple regions while keeping the spirit of the event firmly rooted in Aichi.