Olympic flame to arrive in Japan on March 20

Olympic flame to arrive in Japan on March 20

Tokyo, Japan, October 29, 2019: The organising committee of Tokyo 2020 has unveiled details of the Olympic flame arrival ceremony in Japan on March 20, 2020.

On March 12, the Olympic flame will be lit at the historic site of Ancient Olympia in Greece. After a week-long initial leg of the Olympic Torch Relay in Greece, a flame handover ceremony will take place at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on March 19.

A special aircraft bearing the name “TOKYO 2020 Go” will then transport the Olympic flame to Japan, landing at JASDF Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi prefecture, where local children will escort the flame on to a stage.

Olympic champions Tadahiro Nomura (judo) and Saori Yoshida (wrestling) will undertake the role of delivering the Olympic flame from Greece to Japan together with Tokyo 2020 representatives.

During the arrival ceremony at JASDF Matsushima Air Base, they will have the responsibility of unveiling the flame in its first appearance on Japanese soil.

After the arrival of the TOKYO 2020 Go aircraft in Miyagi, a special display of the “Flame of Recovery” will be staged in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures from March 20-25. Immediately afterwards, on March 26, the Olympic flame will commence its 121-day journey through all 47 prefectures of Japan, passing by many of the nation’s most famous and cherished sights, serving as a symbol of the Olympic Games and visiting 857 local municipalities along the way.

Source: www.olympic.org