Tokyo 2020 announces agenda for arrival of Olympic flame

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) today unveiled details of the Olympic Flame Arrival Ceremony, which marks the arrival of the Olympic flame in Tokyo on 20 March 2020.

On 12 March, the Olympic flame will be lit at the historic site of Ancient Olympia in Greece. After a week-long initial leg of the Olympic Torch Relay in Greece, a flame handover ceremony will take place at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 19 March 2020.

A special aircraft bearing the name “TOKYO 2020 Go” will then transport the Olympic flame to Japan, landing at JASDF Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi prefecture, where local children will escort the flame onto a stage.

Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida will undertake the role of delivering the Olympic flame from Greece to Japan together with Tokyo 2020 representatives. During the arrival ceremony at JASDF Matsushima Air Base, they will have the responsibility of unveiling the flame in its first appearance on Japanese soil.

Tokyo 2020
Tokyo 2020

A model of the special aircraft commissioned to transport the Tokyo 2020 Olympic flame to Japan will also be on site. The artwork on the side of the plane is designed to reflect the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch concept “Hope Lights Our Way” and depict the journey of the Olympic Torch Relay. It consists of an Olympic torchbearer pictogram emblazoned on the front of the aircraft, followed by an ochre-coloured emblem along the side of the plane to the Olympic Torch Relay emblem on the tail. The flight of this special aircraft will constitute the all-important first stage of the Olympic Torch Relay, a journey that will be continued by the torchbearers on the ground.

The name of the aircraft ⎼ TOKYO 2020 Go ⎼ incorporates the Japanese word “号”, the suffix used for the numbering of trains, buses and aircraft. This also has a similar pronunciation to the English “Go!”, implying the start of a journey. The overall name is intended to reflect the plane’s mission to deliver the flame to the Olympic Games and the sense of anticipation as the Games near.

After the arrival of the TOKYO 2020 Go aircraft in Miyagi, a special display of the “Flame of Recovery” will be staged in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures from 20 to 25 March 2020. Immediately afterwards, on 26 March, the Olympic flame will commence its 121-day journey through all 47 prefectures of Japan, passing by many of the nation’s most famous and cherished sights, serving as a symbol of the Olympic Games and visiting 857 local municipalities along the way.