The Tokyo Olympic torch relay began its segment in Hiroshima on Monday, but the event was downscaled with torchbearers passing on the flame at a park without spectators in the prefecture, which is under an emergency over surging coronavirus infections.
The torchbearers gathered in the city of Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park near the epicenter of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing during World War II, as local organizers decided not to use public roads for the relay throughout the two-day event.
On Monday, Takayuki Sakai, a younger brother of Yoshinori Sakai, who lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was among those who carried the flame at the park.