Paralympic flames will be lit in more than 880 municipalities between Aug. 12 and Aug. 24, an increase of about 180 from the number announced in February last year, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Games has said.
Unlike the Olympic torch, which uses a flame that was lit in Olympia, Greece, the Paralympic torch will utilize flames kindled in various ways across the nation to express diversity.
Participation in lighting the flames is voluntary. In 18 prefectures, all of the municipalities will hold such events.
The kindling of Paralympic flames will start on Aug. 12, after the Olympics end. The participating municipalities are planning to use, among others, flames related to local traditions and rituals, those conveying wishes for peace and reconstruction, and flames created using the latest technology.
Flames from all over the nation and from Stoke Mandeville in Britain, the birthplace of the Paralympics, will be merged into a single Paralympic flame in Tokyo at an event in Tokyo on Aug. 20.
The torch relay will take place between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24 in the four prefectures of Shizuoka, Chiba, Saitama and Tokyo, which will host venues for the Paralympic Games.
--'Father of parasports'
In Beppu, Oita Prefecture, a flame will be kindled to honor Dr. Yutaka Nakamura (1927-1984), who hailed from the city and is known as "the father of parasports in Japan."
Nakamura devoted himself to the development of parasports. He served as the head of the Tokyo Paralympics team in 1964 and helped bring about in 1975 the parasports event known as FESPIC.
The event is currently known as the Asian Para Games.
For the upcoming Paralympics, a flame will be sparked with the lens that was used for making a flame for the first East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled. Sunlight will be focused with the lens, which is about 12 centimeters across and 2 centimeters thick.
"We hope this will be a good opportunity to let people know that Beppu is the birthplace of sports for the disabled [in Japan]," said an employee at Japan Sun Industries, a social welfare corporation that was launched by Nakamura.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
