Organizers of Tokyo 2020 left the Olympic flame in the hands of Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday. It will be there on display in a lantern for the next month after the Games were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The handover took place at a subdued ceremony at the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima, which was originally set to be the starting point of the torch relay.
Of the organizing committee, only Tokyo 2020 COO Yukihiko Nunomura made the trip north, Reuters reported. “This is a [symbol of] hope for the world to celebrate the best of human beings through Tokyo 2020 after we overcome the serious coronavirus,” Nunomura said.
The flame will stay on display in the J-Village until April 30 before being moved to Tokyo. Organizers have not yet decided where in the Japanese capital it will be displayed.