Tokyo Olympic Flame Arrives in Japan

Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Pref., March 20 (Jiji Press)--The Olympic flame for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games arrived in Japan from Greece on Friday, at a time when the fate of the sporting event is uncertain amid the new coronavirus pandemic. A special jet carrying the Olympic flame landed at the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Matsushima base in the city of Higashimatsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, shortly after 9:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. GMT). At an arrival ceremony, Japanese athletes Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida, who won gold medals in three straight Olympic Games for the men's judo and the women's wrestling, respectively, received a lantern containing the Olympic flame on the accommodation ladder of the aircraft and passed it to Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Games organizing committee. Then, Nomura and Yoshida held up the Olympic torch and lit the Olympic flame dish. Airplanes from the Blue Impulse acrobatic team of the ASDF performed a demonstration flight and drew the five Olympic rings in the sky using colored smoke. After the rings were blown away by strong winds, the planes drew five straight lines in the five colors of the Olympic rings--blue, yellow, black, green and red. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, participation in the ceremony by children from three local municipalities was canceled. "I was moved although it was regrettable" that the Olympic rings were blown away by the winds, Yutaka Kakizaki, 68, a part-timer from the city of Natori in Miyagi, said. "It was the first time for me to see something drawn with colored smoke," said Riko Sannohe, 10, an elementary school fourth-grader from Sendai, the capital of Miyagi. "It was very exciting," she added. The Olympic flame left Athens for Japan aboard the special jet on Thursday after being handed over to the Japanese side from Greece's Olympic Committee in a ceremony in the Greek capital on the day, which was held without a live audience due to the viral outbreak. The flame was lit at a ceremony in Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics, on March 12, which took place also with no spectators in attendance. The Greek part of the Olympic torch relay was cut short. Over the six days through Wednesday, the Olympic flame will be displayed as the "flame of reconstruction" in Miyagi and neighboring Iwate and Fukushima prefectures, but on a reduced scale due to concerns over the virus. The three Japanese prefectures were hit hard by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Fukushima is also home to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, where an unprecedented triple reactor meltdown occurred soon after the quake and tsunami. The Olympic flame was transported to the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi on Friday, after the arrival at the ASDF base, starting the tour of the three prefectures. "The flame was very beautiful, and it will remain a good memory for me," said Miyu Tanno, an elementary school fifth-grader from Sendai. "Our nine-year dream has come true," said Kazuo Ito, the 73-year-old head of Ishinomaki's sports council, who has worked to realize the exhibition of the flame in the city, which was hit hard by the tsunami nine years ago. "Ishinomaki became lively again thanks to the support from around the country," he said, adding, "We want to express our gratitude through the flame of reconstruction." Following the tour of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima by the Olympic flame, the Olympic torch relay in Japan is set to start on Thursday from the J-Village national sports training center in Fukushima. But the day's departure ceremony for the torch relay is set to be scaled down, with participation by members of the public canceled. J-Village was used as a base for the work to contain the nuclear crisis. END