NAGANO

Back to figure skating.

Back to ice hockey.

Back to short track.

Back to speed skating.

The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano will be the second time the Games will have been held in Japan , the first being in the northern city of Sapporo in 1972.

A popular destination for Japanese holidaymakers Nagano, which is situated in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan's largest island of Honshu, is known as the Japanese Alps due to its similarity with the European region.

The city, which has a population of 350,000, and the surrounding area form the largest ski area in Asia and it is considered the birthplace of skiing in Japan after its introduction by Europeans in the 1930s.

Nagano has twice been unsuccessful in bids to hold the Winter Games, once in 1940 and then again in 1972.

Now a centre for high-technology electronics, machinery and the food industries, Nagano is built around the Zenkoji temple, which was built to house the first image of Bhudda brought to Japan almost one and a half centuries ago, and still attracts over 7million tourists and worshippers every year.

The earliest economy of the area that grew over the past three-hundred years around the inns where worshippers stayed, was agriculture.

Today paddy fields still cover the undeveloped areas around the city and the region is well known for its apples.

Nagano City itself will play host to both the opening and closing ceremonies at the Minami Nagano Sports Park, which will not be used during the tournament and will be turned into a baseball stadium at the end of the Games.

Figure skating, ice hockey and both long track and short track speed skating will also take place there.

The region's infrastructure has been improved to accommodate the competitors and spectators and a high-speed rail link has been built to Tokyo.

© PA Sporting Life