Japan hasn’t hosted the Summer Olympics since 1964; three years from now marks their big chance to impress everyone on the world stage.

The number one goal behind hosting the Summer Olympics is to showcase a spectacle. Japan wants to impress the world and, if predictions are true, it definitely will.

These are the three coolest things Tokyo is doing to get ready for 2020.

1. The Stadium

At first, the Japanese government set aside around 3 billion dollars to fund the changes they wanted to make to their stadium and the various infrastructure construction they would need. Now the predicted budget is expected to soar past nearly six times that number. The expectations are that tourists and visitors will be able to swipe a pass, verify their identity with a facial scan, and then be led around the stadium by an app that can speak to them in ten different languages. They are also working on a new technology that will project a fake meteor shower in the skies all across Tokyo. It would be a mass series of micro-satellites that they would launch into the lower atmosphere above Tokyo. It could replace fireworks as outdoor entertainment.

2. Self-Driving Mass Transit

They are currently working on new legislation and regulations that will govern the use of self-driving cars. Back in the 1964 Summer Olympics, Japan debuted a bullet train that was above and beyond any sort of mass transit the rest of the world had seen. It set them apart as a rising technological power in the world. These self-driving cars are supposedly going to make the same sort of gesture to the world that Japan is still an enterprising and forward thinking tech giant. They’re currently working on 3-D mapping the entire country’s roadways and refitting already existing automobiles to become driverless. That is supposed to keep the costs down. If they can pull it off, it will mean that Tokyo will become the first major city to establish its own self-driving fleet.

3. The Tokyo 2020 Medal Project

Japan is planning something else that is unprecedented. They plan to build the Olympic medals out of recycled materials, which has been done before, but now Japan is asking its citizens to get involved in collecting all the necessary scrap gold and parts. They are aiming at a 100% recyclable rate of content. This might seem like a small thing, but really it is a big step in a direction towards a better future of environmental conservation. Many Asian countries are somewhat notorious for their lax stance on environmental concerns or global warming. Today China is moving towards expanding solar power faster than the U.S. is and Tokyo is pushing for a cigarette ban. Using the Summer Olympics as a stage to speak for sustainable practices when it comes to the production of goods and services could make a big wave for Japan in 2020.

Featured image: Tokyo 2020 

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