Tokyo Olympic torch relay, lit by Japanese actress Satomi Ishihara (second from right).
The year-long Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay, lit by actress Satomi Ishihara today, officially started from the Fukushima nuclear accident waste furnace operation site, the Fukushima Prefecture soccer facility J-VILLAGE, will be about 10,000 runners relay in 121 days to run throughout Japan.
The Central News Agency quoted Japan’s NHK report, Tokyo Olympic torch relay today from Fukushima County, there will be about 10,000 runners relay run to the East Olympic opening ceremony on July 23, using 121 days to run across Japan.
The torch relay will start at J-VILLAGE, a soccer facility in Fukushima Prefecture, the site of the Fukushima nuclear accident waste furnace operation, and the starting ceremony will be held at 9:00 a.m. Japan Time.
Attendees included Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee Chairman Seiji Hashimoto, Olympic Minister Juyo Marukawa, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori, and five official ambassadors of the East Olympics, including actress Satomi Ishihara and three-time Paralympic shooter Aki Taguchi.
The ceremony began with the Olympic anthem and The Japanese national anthem, followed by the chorus of the 311 East Japan Earthquake recovery and support theme song “Flowers are blooming” by elementary and middle school students from Fukushima Prefecture.
The flame arrived at the Air Self-Defense Force base in Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan by special flight from Greece on March 20 last year, and has been kept in Japan and exhibited for the past year.
The first runner will be 16 members of Japan’s national women’s soccer team, nicknamed “Yamato Nadeshiko”, who won the 2011 Women’s World Cup, and one of the members, Azumi Iwashimizu, will light the torch and start the run at about 9:40 a.m.
Today, 100 runners are scheduled to run through 10 cities, towns and villages in Fukushima Prefecture, and are expected to arrive at the finish line ceremony venue at 5:00 p.m. JST on the first day.
The East Olympic Organizing Committee will be webcasting the flame relay in response to the new crown Epidemic and is urging people to avoid gathering along the route to watch. If it is judged that there are too many people along the route, it will also skip the venue and go directly to the next place; in addition, the staff will also consider stopping the flame relay on the open road if there is a cluster of infections.
After the lighting of the Olympic torch in Tokyo, the Japanese women’s soccer team will run the first baton.
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