TOKYO: The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games is set to live up to its themes of ‘reconstruction’ and ‘sustainability’ as recycled aluminium from temporary housing in Fukushima, which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, is planned to be used in the crafting of Olympic torches, Japanese national daily The Mainichi reports.
The torches will require more than 10,000 pieces of aluminium, which will be used by runners in the nationwide relay beginning after the Olympic flame arrives in Japan from Greece on 20 March 2020.
Sources claims that the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee will have to coordinate with local governments in the future in order to determine which metals can be procured from temporary housing that are no longer in use.
The organizers are also collecting metals from used electronics handed in by consumers nationwide to create approximately 5,000 medals to be awarded at the Games. In October 2018, it was revealed that they had reached their target for bronzes.
The ‘flame of reconstruction’ will first be displayed in the districts of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, the three most affected by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated a large part of northeastern Japan.
The Japan leg of the relay will begin in Fukushima on 26 March and will travel across all 47 districts of the country over a period of 121 days before arriving in Tokyo for the opening ceremony. The design of the torch, which has already been approved by the International Olympic Committee, will be announced next spring.
