The torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics, beginning in Fukushima on Thursday, will showcase Japan's culture, history and landscapes as the coronavirus-weary nation gears up for the opening of the games in late July.
The flame, lit in Greece last year before the one-year postponement of the games, will travel through all of Japan's 47 prefectures, with some of the roughly 10,000 torchbearers set to participate in various ways, with some skiing, being dragged behind a horse while standing on an iron sled or even using centuries-old Japanese swimming techniques.