![]() | This article needs to be updated.March 2020) ( |
![]() | |
Host city | Tokyo, Japan |
---|---|
Countries visited | Greece, Japan |
Distance | 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) |
Theme | Hope Lights Our Way |
Start date | 12 March 2020 |
End date | 23 July 2021 |
![]() |
Part of a series on |
|
The 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay is scheduled to run from 12 March 2020 until 23 July 2021. After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch was handed over to the Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki, who became the first woman to be first Olympic torchbearer[1] and it has been travelled to Athens on 19 March. The Japanese leg will begin in Fukushima,[2] and will end in Tokyo's New National Stadium, the main venue of the 2020 Olympics. It will make a tour of Japanese cities, including all 47 prefectural capitals.[3] The torch is even scheduled to go to two remote island groups which are part of Tokyo.[4] The end of the relay will be the finale of the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Toyota, NTT, JXTG, Nippon Life, JAL, ANA and Japan Post Holdings are the presenting partners of the relay with the slogan being "Hope Lights Our Way".[5][6]
The torch relay is subject to change due to the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. The planned relay leg through Greece was cancelled, and both the lighting ceremony in Olympia and the handover ceremony in Athens had no public attendance. The torch was kept in Iwaki on 25 March 2020 following the postponement before moving to Tokyo for exhibition until the rest of the relay will be resumed on 25 March 2021.[7][8]
The Olympic torch was designed by Tokujin Yoshioka and unveiled 19 March 2019; the design is inspired by cherry blossoms, with 5 petal-shaped columns around the tip of the torch, and a rose-gold "sakura gold" color finish. Their construction will incorporate aluminium recycled from unused shelters deployed in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[9][10]
The traditional lighting ceremony was held on 12 March at Olympia, Greece, and the torch was handed over to the first torchbearer, Anna Korakaki. Due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, it was the first lighting ceremony since 1984 to be held without spectators.[11] The handover ceremony was held at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 19 March.[12] The torch was to visit 31 cities and 15 landmarks across Greece,[13][14][15] but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was cancelled.[16] On 13 March, a small ceremony was held in Sparta.[17]
As the damage from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami mostly affected three prefectures, Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, a special torch display known as "Flame of Recovery" will be held in these three prefectures. The flame first arrived at Matsushima Air Field before being displayed at the locations below.[18]
Following after the postponement, the Olympic Torch was kept in Iwaki.
These are the rescheduled relay dates in 2021 from the original 2020 schedule:
Prefecture | Route | Map |
---|---|---|
Fukushima | 25 March (day 1): Naraha to Minamisoma
26 March (day 2): Sōma to Aizuwakamatsu
|
|
Tochigi | 28 March (day 4): Ashikaga to Nasukarasuyama
29 March (day 5): Nasu to Utsunomiya
|
|
Gunma | ||
Nagano | 1 April (day 8): Karuizawa to Nagano
|
|
Gifu | 3 April (day 10): Nakatsugawa to Takayama
4 April (day 11): Gero to Gifu
|
|
Aichi | ||
Mie | ||
Wakayama | 9 April (day 16): Shingū to Wakayama
|
|
Nara | ||
Osaka | ||
Tokushima | 15 April (day 22): Miyoshi to Naruto
|
|
Kagawa | 17 April (day 24): Utazu to Kan'onji
18 April (day 25): Sakaide to Takamatsu
|
|
Kōchi | ||
Ehime | 21 April (day 28): Shikokuchūō to Matsuyama
|
|
Ōita | ||
Miyazaki | ||
Kagoshima |
28 April (day 35): Izumi to Ibusuki
|
|
Okinawa |
2 May (day 37): Tomigusuku to Itoman
|
|
Kumamoto | 5 May (day 38): Hitoyoshi to Yatsushiro
|
|
Nagasaki | 7 May (day 40): Minamishimabara to Nagasaki
|
|
Saga | ||
Fukuoka | 11 May (day 44): Ōmuta to Fukuoka
|
|
Yamaguchi |
14 May (day 47): Ube to Hagi
|
|
Shimane | ||
Hiroshima | ||
Okayama | ||
Tottori | 21 May (day 54): Sakaiminato to Kurayoshi
|
|
Hyōgo |
24 May (day 57): Kobe to Tamba-Sasayama
|
|
Kyoto | 25 May (day 58): Kyōtango to Kameoka
|
|
Shiga | ||
Fukui | ||
Ishikawa | 31 May (day 64): Kaga to Kanazawa
|
|
Toyama | ||
Niigata | 4 June (day 68): Itoigawa to Minamiuonuma
|
|
Yamagata | 6 June (day 70): Nishikawa to Yamagata
|
|
Akita | ||
Aomori | 10 June (day 74): Hirosaki to Aomori
|
|
Hokkaido | ||
Iwate | 16 June (day 78): Shizukuishi to Kuji
17 June (day 79): Iwaizumi to Rikuzentakata
18 June (day 80): Ichinoseki to Morioka
|
|
Miyagi | 19 June (day 81): Kesennuma to Onagawa
20 June (day 82): Higashimatsushima to Rifu
|
|
Shizuoka | ||
Yamanashi | 26 June (day 87): Nanbu to Kōfu
27 June (day 88): Fuefuki to Fujiyoshida
|
|
Kanagawa | ||
Chiba | 1 July (day 92): Kisarazu to Sanmu
|
|
Ibaraki | 4 July (day 95): Kashima to Mito
|
|
Saitama | 6 July (day 97): Koga to Tokorozawa
7 July (day 98): Sōka to Kumagaya
|
At the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, the relay will end with the lighting of the cauldron at the New National Stadium. In December 2018, organizers announced that, similar to what happened at the 2016 Summer Olympics, two cauldrons will be built: one inside the Olympic Stadium and another on the waterfront, near the Dream Bridge. The function of the stadium cauldron will be merely scenographic, to go according to what is established in the Olympic Charter. The Dream Bridge cauldron will be the place where the flame will burn during the 16 days of the Games. It will be lighted right after the end of opening ceremony and will be extinguished a few moments before the closing ceremony starts, when the flame will return to the scenographic cauldron inside the stadium and will be burned for its last few moments. The decision to use a public cauldron came from the fact that it would not be possible to maintain the flame burning inside the stadium during the games.[19]
![]() |