FUKUSHIMA -- The Olympic Flame, which was making its pilgrimage through Fukushima, an area devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake, as a symbol of its reconstruction, was exhibited Tuesday at the east exit of JR Fukushima Station.
To prevent infection with the new coronavirus, officials from the Fukushima municipal government and the Fukushima prefectural government divided the visitors into groups of eight and asked each group to watch the torch for about 15 seconds.
About 3,000 people turned up, but there was no crowding or major confusion.
When the flame was displayed in Sendai on Saturday, about 50,000 people flocked to see the flame, creating a dense crowd.
In response, the officials in Fukushima took to the streets to urge visitors to wear masks.
The officials also prepared disinfectant and limited the number of people who could line up by curtailing the length of the line to up to about 200 meters.
The officials tried to keep visitors apart from each other by applying tapes on the ground where visitors were to make a line at every 1.2 meters.
The emcee of the event repeatedly told the visitors, "Please keep a distance of 1 meter or more from the person next to you."
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