From this week's FT, comes a comment that says as much about Japan's woes as it does about the World Cup it is co-hosting:
"The Sapporo Dome, for example, cost Y42.2 billion to build, plus a further Y11.5 billion for the purchase of the land. Asked whether it could ever recoup its costs, one government official in Hokkaido said revealingly: 'Because it was constructed by the government, we do not really work on the principle of cost recovery.'
"The Sapporo Dome features a natural grass pitch located outside the stadium so that it can grow in the open air. When football matches are to be played, the pitch is floated into the space-age arena - a process that takes seven hours."
