Get ready for Thursday's Grand Start of the Olympic Torch Relay
Thursday - 25 March - is the Grand Start of the Olympic Torch Relay for the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021. Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming events, as the flame begins its 121-day journey across the 47 prefectures of Japan.
How to watch
The Grand Start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay begins at the National Training Center J-Village in Fukushima on 25 March from 9:00 a.m. (JST). Due to COVID-19 restrictions, no spectators will be allowed at the site but the event will be live-streamed right here on the Tokyo 2020 website.
The Olympic flame will be used by the Grand Start torchbearers – members of the “Nadeshiko Japan” women’s football team – to light the torch, marking the beginning of the 121-day Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay.
The first five prefectures the flame will travel through are Fukushima (25-27 March), Tochigi, (28-29 March), Gunma (30-31 March), Nagano (1-2 April) and Gifu (3-4 April). From there, it will make its way across some 98 per cent of Japan, before reaching its final destination in the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo on 23 July 2021, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
A cornerstone of the Olympics
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay will continue a long tradition of torch relays that have become emblematic of the Games. From London 1948's Relay of Peace to the "Down Under" relay of Sydney, each relay has been unique in its own way.
The concept behind the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay is "Hope Lights Our Way", uniting the Japanese people around messages about supporting, accepting and encouraging one another.
The Olympic flame will not only symbolise the sunrise of a new era spreading the hope that will light our way, but will also serve to spread the joy and passion of the Japanese around the Olympic Movement as the Games approach.
Meet the torchbearers
Over the course of the torch relay, as many as 10,000 torchbearers will be responsible for carrying the Olympic torch across Japan to its final destination in Tokyo.
On average, torchbearers will each run a distance of around 200m and will transfer the flame onto the next torchbearer using one of several torch kiss poses.
People from all walks of life have volunteered to be torchbearers, each with their own personal reason for wanting to take part. These include NAKAGAWA Kiku, whose great-grandfather made the torch for the Tokyo 1964 Games, KONISHI Hiroyuki, a PR ambassador who has lived with cancer for 15 years and YUHEI Sekino who is running the relay for his younger brother.
And there are many others who are working behind the scenes to make the Olympic Torch Relay an unforgettable occasion.
Take part in the Olympic Torch Relay on social media! #HopeLightsOurWay
Wherever you are in the world, getting involved in the Olympic Torch Relay on social media has never been so easy. Show your Olympic spirit or send a message of encouragement to the torchbearers by posting on social media by using the following hashtags: #Tokyo2020, #HopeLightsOurWay, #TorchRelay, #StrongerTogether and #OlympicFlame.
Posts with #HopeLightsOurWay or any hashtag related to the Torch Relay will be published on the Torch Relay website and on social media.