Tokyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $US1.5 billion National Stadium to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Koike and other dignitaries attended the event on Sunday at the site of the demolished National Stadium that was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

They launched the construction of the stadium by putting their hands on a glass sphere that rotated through pastels of the colours of the Olympic logo.

The ceremony ended with a video replete with computer graphics showing how the stadium is expected to look and function once completed by November 2019.

Work on the stadium in the centre of the city fell behind schedule because the government abandoned the original design amid spiralling costs and complaints.