Ahead of the opening of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, athletes are facing severe difficulties due to a shortage of accommodations.

This tournament is using prefabricated containers and cruise ships instead of a traditional athletes' village, but with participants exceeding expectations, rooms are running short.

The Japanese media outlet The Japan Times reported, "With accommodation issues persisting ahead of the Asian Games, there have even been cases where male and female athletes were assigned to the same room, leading even the host country's Japanese national team to consider using alternative lodging."

In fact, Hisashi Mizutori, deputy head of the Japanese delegation, revealed at a press conference held yesterday that some room assignments resulted in male and female athletes being placed in the same room.

The incident occurred as rooms were tightly allocated to match headcounts. Mizutori explained, "The numbers matched on paper, but in reality, difficult situations arose, such as men and women being assigned together, coaches sharing rooms with athletes, or trainers who need to store a lot of medical equipment being placed in the same room."

He also stated, "A considerable amount of time was spent on the village entry process," adding, "Due to accreditation activation issues, some athletes had to wait for several hours."

Previously, the organizing committee for the games did not construct a separate athletes' village, opting instead to provide cruise ships and container-type temporary lodgings to accommodate the delegations.

The organizing committee explained that it initially expected 15,000 athletes and officials to participate, but the number increased with the addition of new events, leading to the accommodation shortage.

The Japanese Olympic Committee has reportedly secured hotel rooms in downtown Nagoya as backup lodging.

Mizutori stated, "I have heard that the accommodation allocation situation is extremely tight," and added, "We are currently making adjustments and consultations to the extent possible, but if adjustments prove too difficult, we are also considering using the backup lodging secured in advance by the Japanese delegation as an alternative."

Reported by Lee Ho-geon | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News