Nagoya, Japan, May 19, 2026: Details of the flame-lighting ceremony and torch relay for the 20th Asian Games were presented at the second World Broadcasters Meeting in Nagoya on Tuesday, May 19.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee (AINAGOC) will hold flame-lighting events in Tokyo and Hiroshima to honour Japan’s previous two Asian Games host cities, in 1958 and 1994, respectively.
The two flames will then unite in Nagoya to signal the start of the torch relay leading up to the opening ceremony on September 19.
Tokyo, host city of the 3rd Asian Games in 1958, will begin the flame-lighting events on Tuesday, August 18 at the National Stadium.
Hiroshima, host city of the 12th Asian Games in 1994, will then hold a ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on Thursday, August 20.
The flames will then come together on Saturday, August 22 at Nagoya Castle, and the torch relay will begin, covering 40 municipalities of Aichi Prefecture until September 18.
The relay includes the school torch relay from September 7-15, taking in 14 schools selected from 70 applications to host the school torch relay.
The relay will run under the title “A Uniting Flame for All”.