TOKYO: The Tokyo metropolitan government and others celebrated the 100-day countdown to the Aug. 24 opening of the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Sunday.

“We’ll make preparations to realize safe and secure games so that the event will be a light of hope,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at a ceremony to mark the countdown.

She thus underscored her resolve to hold the Paralympics though it remains uncertain when Japan will be able to put the novel coronavirus under control.

The ceremony was also attended by Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee President Seiko Hashimoto and Tokyo Games minister Tamayo Marukawa.

“I strongly hope that everyone will warmly watch and support athletes,” Hashimoto said.

“We are doing all we can to realize safe and secure games through all-out coronavirus measures,” Japanese Paralympic Committee President Mitsunori Torihara said.

“It’s important to communicate our efforts again and again to those in and outside the country,” he added.

During the ceremony, a monument of the Paralympic symbol called “three agitos” was unveiled. The monument features three crescents colored in red, blue and green. According to the organizing committee, “agito” is Latin for “I move.”

Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo XI delivered a traditional kabuki performance. He is a Tokyo Paralympics ambassador appointed by the metropolitan government.

JIJI Press