Railway operators in the Tokyo area are in the final stages of preparations for the Olympics and Paralympics this summer. East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, is scheduled to open a new station on its Yamanote Line for the first time in 49 years in March. Takanawa Gateway Station, located close to a public viewing event site for the Olympics, is expected to be used by many passengers during the quadrennial sports event. JR East touts Takanawa Gateway as a "future station" that showcases cutting-edge Japanese technologies such as an autonomous security robot and a convenience store without shop assistants. By the end of this month, all train cars for the Yamanote Line will have space available for wheelchair users.

There is a simple riposte to anyone who doubts an Olympics can truly transform a city: Tokyo. When Japan's capital first won the right to host the Games, in 1959, it suffered from a desperate shortage of housing and functional infrastructure – and the lack of flush toilets meant most waste had to be vacuumed daily out of cesspits underneath buildings by "honey wagon" trucks. But within five years Japan's capital had undergone such a metamorphosis that visitors to the 1964 Olympics responded with stunned awe. "Out of the jungle of concrete mixers, mud and timber that has been Tokyo for years, the city has emerged, as from a chrysalis, to stand glitteringly ready for the Olympics," the Times' correspondent swooned, citing a long list of buildings and accomplishments "all blurring into a neon haze … that will convince the new arrival he has come upon a mirage." As Japan's capital enters a year in the spotlight, from the Rugby World up to the 2020 Olympics, Guardian Cities is spending a week reporting live from the largest megacity on Earth.

Japan is aiming to launch self-driving vehicle services on public roads by 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics and Paralympics, according to a draft growth strategy presented Monday. The government set a goal of increasing the number of locations where such services are available to over 100 across the country by 2030, reflecting its ambition to spread the use of autonomous driving technology. The draft strategy, presented to a government panel on future investment, pointed to the need for Japan to make better use of advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and big data. A slow response will leave the country lagging behind in the intensifying global technology race, the strategy document said, adding that advances can be utilized to solve Japan's dual challenges of its aging society and falling birthrate. Automakers and other companies are competing to develop self-driving technology that the government hopes to show off in autonomous vehicles when the Olympics and Paralympics are held in Tokyo.

The government plans to build a system using artificial intelligence to ease spectator congestion at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, sources said Tuesday. The system will help guide spectators to less crowded exit routes at competition venues. Some 10 million spectators are expected to attend the Summer Olympics and Paralympics from July to September 2020. Fans will receive congestion forecasts at various points every 30 minutes after an event ends through their smartphones and electronic boards set up around the venue, and will be guided toward less congested routes to train stations. To make such forecasts, the AI-based system will obtain information on the flow of pedestrians through roadside cameras and by measuring smartphone activity. Measures to protect individuals' privacy are being considered.