Japan picks new design for Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium

Japan chose a scaled-down design Tuesday for the main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, five months after scrapping the initial design and construction plan for being too costly. The new design, by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, will still cost 153 billion yen to design, build and maintain. The initial stadium proposal would have cost 252 billion yen , making it the most expensive stadium ever built. "This is a wonderful plan which meets the basic vision in the new construction plan and requirements for construction period and the budget," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in announcing the choice. Tuesday's announcement was a major step for organizers, who were forced to start over on a new design less than five years before the 2020 Games.