Recently the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee revealed a revised plan for its torch relay, the commemorative quadrennial event that already kicked off on March 25th.
The torch’s journey will still traverse all 47 prefectures as originally planned, hitting important landmarks associated with significant domestic events, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It will take the torch 121 days to travel across Japan, with the scheduled dates for each prefecture in 2021 being one day earlier than 2020.
Additionally, concerning torchbearers, organizers confirmed that those individuals already selected before the announcement of the Games’ postponement will be given priority in the assignment of running slots for the revised Relay. It is possible that the final roster of torchbearers may vary, depending on the candidates’ schedules. Tokyo 2020 will review detailed scheduling with them.
Guided by the theme, “Hope Lights Our Way,” especially against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic which caused the Games’ postponement to 2021, the torch relay intends to serve as a beacon of hope for the world in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Games, themselves a symbol of the resilience, the unity and the solidarity of humankind.