Olympics torch relay starts

THE Olympics torch relay started in Fukushima yesterday, kicking off a four-month countdown to the summer Games in Tokyo, delayed from 2020 and the first ever organised during a global pandemic.

Some 10,000 runners will take the torch across Japan’s 47 prefectures, including far-flung islands, starting from the site of the 2011 quake and tsunami that killed about 20,000 people, highlighting the government’s “Reconstruction Olympics” theme.

The first section will not have spectators to avoid large crowds and roadside onlookers elsewhere will have to wear masks and socially distance along the way as Japan battles the deadly virus and scrambles to vaccinate its people.

Casting a pall over the celebrations, North Korea yesterday launched at least two projectiles suspected to be ballistic missiles, officials in the region said, the first such test reported since US President Joe Biden took office in January. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga assured reporters in Tokyo the government was cooperating with the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Olympic Committee to host a secure Games.

“We will do our utmost in terms of coronavirus measures and continue to work with related areas to contain the spread of infections and hope to work towards a safe and secure Games,” Suga said.

The starting ceremony will be held at J-Village in Fukushima, a sports complex converted into a staging ground for workers decommissioning the crippled nuclear power plant that caused tens of thousands to flee.