Tokyo has sped up its preparations as the one-year countdown to the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games approaches, with 90 percent of the new National Stadium completed while construction of the athletes' village is expected to be finished in December.

Test events have begun to ensure a successful operation during the summer games, the first to be held in Japan in 56 years.

Here is a collection of pictures captured recently by Kyodo News photographers:

(Aerial view of the new National Stadium in Tokyo, the main venue for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, with its exterior mostly completed)

(A view of the interior of the new National Stadium, scheduled to be completed by the end of November)

(Nightview of the athletes' village (foreground), which will accommodate about 18,000 people during the games, under construction in the Harumi waterfront district)

(Spectators fill the stands during a test event for the modern pentathlon in June)

(A weightlifting test event at the Tokyo International Forum in July)

(Demonstration event at the newly completed Kasai Canoe Slalom Center, the first manmade course in Japan)

(Students at a junior high school in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, take a close look at the 2020 Olympic torch)

(An Olympic rings installation set up near the new National Stadium has become a popular photo spot)

(Visitors at a 2020 Tokyo official goods store are greeted by two large dolls of Olympics mascot Miraitowa (blue) and Paralympics mascot Someity)

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