Tokyo Olympics torch relay kicks off

Ms Azusa Iwashimizu, a member of the Japanese women's national football team, lighting the Olympic torch on the first day of the torch relay in the town of Naraha yesterday. The event - which started in Fukushima, site of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed about 20,000 people - kicks off a four-month countdown to the Summer Games in Tokyo. About 10,000 runners will take the torch across Japan's 47 prefectures, including far-flung islands, and the relay will culminate with the Olympic opening ceremony on July 23.