Asian Games cruise ship and wooden huts will be 'unique experience'

Experience the unique accommodations of a cruise ship and wooden huts for athletes at the upcoming Asian Games in Japan.

Athletes at the Asian Games in Japan will have "a unique experience" staying on a cruise ship and in wooden containers, an organising official told AFP six months out from the event, but acknowledged there were concerns about the plan.

About half of the expected 15,000 athletes and officials will live in the eye-catching temporary accommodation during the Games, which are in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area from September 19 to October 4 — coinciding with typhoon season in Japan.

The rest will stay in hotels, including in Tokyo, where swimming, diving and equestrian events are taking place.

Organisers say using the cruise ship and container units are cheaper than building a traditional athletes' village, although they admit the unusual approach has raised eyebrows.

Kazuhiro Yagi, vice-secretary general of the Aichi-Nagoya Games organising committee, told AFP that the accommodation would offer "an experience that's difficult to come by".

"If people were going to live there long-term, that would be a different story," he said.