Taiwan sport minister Lee Yang, a former Olympic badminton champion, was initially blocked from attending a flag-raising ceremony at the Games on Friday, triggering a standoff as the Taiwan delegation refused to participate in protest.

Lee was eventually permitted entry, with the ceremony taking place more than an hour after scheduled. Taiwan's cabinet complained Lee had been subject to "unreasonable obstruction" in a statement and that he had obtained the required access credentials.

Sheikh Joaan said at a press conference he was unaware of the incident but that politicians needed to stay out of sports at the quadrennial Games.

"I think that our focus here is on the athletes and on making sure that everyone, all the athletes, have the equal rights in competing and in having their freedom," the Qatari told reporters in Nagoya. "So I don't think the politicians or politics should be involved in sports. That's my opinion."

OCA Director General Husain Al-Musallam added that the flag-raising ceremony was meant for the participants in the Games: "[It's] not for the delegation from the ministry or from the government."

Lee claimed back-to-back badminton gold medals in the men's doubles at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.

The buildup to the Aichi-Nagoya Games has been overshadowed by complaints from national team delegations over organizational issues, including transport and the accommodations provided for athletes.

Sheikh Joaan defended the local organizers saying they had been solving accommodation issues as they arise. "I think everything is hopefully being back on track," he said.

The organizationsl problems have underscored the massive size of the Games, which include a record 43 sports and 469 medal events, dwarfing the summer Olympics' 32 sports and 329 events.

The OCA defended the size of the program at Nagoya, which will see the debut of "virtual" taekwondo while retaining breaking (breakdancing) and esports.

"We are very proud that the Asian Games [are] bigger than any other games with low cost," said Al-Musallam.

The Games offer Japan another chance to throw open the gates to fans and enjoy a major multi-sport event with a proper atmosphere, five years after the Tokyo Olympics unfolded to empty stadiums.

But a day before Saturday's opening ceremony in Nagoya, the mood was decidedly low-key among some locals.

"I have no real idea about these Games," university student Hinata Koda told Reuters at a cafe on Friday. "I heard they were on but no-one has really been talking about it."

The Games have already kicked off with soccer and basketball preliminaries, thousands of athletes have filed into Nagoya, and there is no shortage of signage promoting the event. Advertising is prominent in the inner city, while volunteers and officials are a visible presence at the main train station.

Further afield, though, the event barely registers.

In Tokyo, which is hosting world and Olympic champion swimmers from Sunday, it was a challenge to find any sign of promotion for the Games, which involve more than 11,000 athletes from 45 delegations.

Staff at a tourist information office in Tokyo's bustling shopping district Shibuya were surprised to learn that the Games had already begun and that events were taking place in the capital.

"I haven't really seen any marketing for the Games. Maybe if Japanese athletes start winning medals, people will pay more attention," one staff member said.

Japan has waited more than three decades to host the Asian Games again, having last staged them in Hiroshima in 1994. Organisers hope the Aichi-Nagoya Games can rekindle some of the communal sporting atmosphere denied to the country during the Olympics when COVID restrictions banned fans.

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