Hiroshima, Japan, August 20, 2026: A flame-lighting ceremony for the torch relay of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games was held in Hiroshima on Thursday, August 20, Kyodo News reports.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui drew the ceremonial flame from the Flame of Peace at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which commemorates the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city on August 6, 1945.
Hajime Moriyasu, manager of Japan’s football team at the recent World Cup, was among the attendees at the flame-lighting event. Moriyasu is one of the most high-profile sporting figures associated with Hiroshima, having spent much of his playing career with J.League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima, whom he later managed.
The first of three flame-lighting ceremonies took place in Tokyo on Tuesday, August 18, and the flames will converge for the main ceremony at Nagoya Castle on Saturday, August 22.
After that, the torch relay will begin, travelling through 40 municipalities of Aichi Prefecture before arriving in Nagoya ahead of the Asian Games opening ceremony on September 19.
Tokyo and Hiroshima were chosen to stage flame-lighting ceremonies as Japan’s previous two Asian Games host cities – Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The motto of the torch relay is “A Uniting Flame for All”.
The 20th Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4, with 11,000 athletes from the Olympic Council of Asia’s 45 National Olympic Committees competing in 43 sports, 71 disciplines and 469 events.