Tokyo Olympics torch relay gets underway in Fukushima's shadow

Japanese torchbearer Azusa Iwashimizu (front R), a member of the Japan women's national football team, passes the Olympic flame to high school student Asato Owada at a torch "kiss point" during the torch relay grand start at the J-Village National Training Centre in Naraha town, Fukushima

The Olympic torch relay set off from Fukushima on Thursday, beginning a four-month countdown to the summer Games in Tokyo, delayed from 2020 and the first ever organised during a global pandemic. About 10,000 runners will carry the torch across Japan's 47 prefectures and far-flung islands, starting from the site of the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed about 20,000 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing radioactive plumes. The first section of the relay did not have spectators, to prevent large crowds, and roadside onlookers elsewhere must wear masks and socially distance as Japan battles the deadly virus and scrambles to vaccinate its people. ‘For the past year, as the entire world underwent a difficult period, the Olympic flame was kept alive quietly but powerfully,’ Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said at the opening ceremony.