Tokyo 2020, Olympic flame relay starts from Fukushima

 Exactly one year after the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the journey of the Olympic torch started today from Fukushima, in a more contained ceremony - as scheduled - due to the health emergency due to the coronavirus.

    The relay will touch all 47 prefectures of the archipelago for the next four months, will involve about 10,000 torch bearers and will end with the arrival of the torch at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, in time for the start of the Games scheduled for 23 July. At the presentation, during the opening at the J-Village in Fukushima, a symbol of the region's attempt to revive after the triple catastrophe of 10 years ago, the president of the organizing committee Seiko Hashimoto wished that the Olympic torch "could be a light hope at the end of a period of darkness ". Some of the players of the Nadeshiko women's national football team, winners of the World Cup in 2011 (the same year in which the accident occurred), began the relay. Due to the pandemic, the authorities have asked the public to limit gatherings during the journey, avoiding excessive manifestations of enthusiasm, and the same riders will be subjected to stringent rules on medical checks. According to the organizers' decision, the Tokyo Olympics will take place without the presence of spectators from abroad, a factor that analysts say will significantly cool support for the event. In the latest survey conducted by the Kyodo agency, over the weekend, just 23.2% said they were in favor of organizing the Games, while 39.8% would opt for its cancellation.