SUITA, Osaka: The Osaka Prefecture leg of the torch relay for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics began at the Expo ’70 Commemorative Park in the city of Suita in the western Japan prefecture on Tuesday.

The relay in the park comes after Osaka fully canceled the event on public roads in the prefecture, where the number of people found infected with the novel coronavirus is on the rise again.

The general public is restricted from entering the park, but each torchbearer is allowed to invite up to four family members or others to watch him or her run. The relay in Osaka is slated to run through Wednesday. The park was used for the 1970 World Exposition.

Each relay participant ran about 200 meters on the approximately 3-kilometer loop course set around the park’s iconic Tower of the Sun monument, designed by the late famed Japanese artist Taro Okamoto.

The park, usually bustling with families, was quiet as the torch carriers ran around the park. Family members watching runners from the side of the relay course clapped or held up signs of encouragement instead of cheering them on, to reduce the risk of infection with the coronavirus. The participants responded by waving at the spectators.

“It was nice that at least family members were able to come,” said Noriko Kume, 61, who watched her husband take part in the relay. “It will be an unforgettable memory.”

“I had a refreshing run,” torchbearer Hiromi Hamada, 49, said. “It was a bit sad, but my family waved and sent me encouragement.”

“It’s disappointing (that there were no general spectators), but I’m glad I was able to pass on the Olympic flame this way,” fellow runner Satoshi Ueda, 35, said. “It was fun running, as I felt it could be encouraging to the Japanese athletes.”

In Osaka, the Olympic torch was initially slated to be passed through 18 municipalities, including the prefecture’s namesake capital city.

But on April 1, when the Japanese government decided to put the city of Osaka, along with some other cities in the country, under the coronavirus pre-emergency stage, Yoshimura hinted at canceling the relay in the prefectural capital.

On Wednesday last week, the governor announced the prefecture-wide cancellation of the relay and the alternative plan to hold the event in the expo park.

The Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics were postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

JIJI Press