The designer of the new National Stadium denied Friday his blueprint has close similarities to one by Zaha Hadid, whose proposal was initially selected and then junked in a humiliating U-turn for Tokyo 2020 Olympics planners.
Kengo Kuma, whose flatter, less expensive design will be used for the games' main venue, said his plan and Hadid's differed significantly in concept and cost.
"I believe if you take a look at Zaha Hadid's design and mine, you can see very different impressions of the building," Kuma told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.