The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on 28 September that the Olympic Torch Relay of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will start on 25 March 2021 from the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima Prefecture, and then traverse all 47 prefectures across Japan over a period of 121 days. In principle, the route and the schedule of the relay will remain as originally planned.

The 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed to summer 2021 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. However, despite being held in 2021, the Olympic Games will retain the same name as the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Games will now be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021.

As 2021 will mark the 10th anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay will aim to showcase the recovery of the areas worst affected by the disaster in line with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay concept of “Hope Lights Our Way”. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will additionally symbolize the light at the end of the current dark tunnel, a beacon of hope for the world in the run-up to the Tokyo 2020 Games, themselves a symbol of the resilience, unity, and solidarity of humankind.

The torch will reach Tokyo on 9 July in time for the flame to light the cauldron in the Olympic Stadium at the Opening Ceremony of the Games on 23 July.

As part of the simplification efforts for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, after the one-year delay due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Grand Start of the Relay and other ceremonies will be scaled back, as will the number of operational staff. COVID-19 countermeasures for the relay will be announced at a later date, after full consultation with experts and the public health authorities.

Those previously confirmed as Olympic torchbearers will be given preference to run in next year's relay, the Tokyo 2020 organizers have said. Around 10,000 torchbearers are set to take part.

In October, the IOC Executive Board (EB) and Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee had discussed the estimated USD 280 million (JPY 30 billion) in cost savings that will be achieved by initial simplification and optimization measures developed to deliver Games fit for a post-corona world.

This tentative figure was revealed at the IOC EB meeting held remotely earlier today. It is based on over 50 measures that were agreed on by the IOC and Tokyo 2020 at last month’s Coordination Commission meeting.

Speaking after the meeting, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “We got another very encouraging, precise, and excellent report from the Tokyo Organizing Committee. There is really great progress being made to make these Olympic Games fit for the post-corona world. Savings of about USD 280 million will be achieved in the operational budget by applying 50 plus measures, which had been agreed on between the Organizing Committee and the IOC Coordination Commission in the last meeting.”

Examples of some of the key measures being implemented include the review of specifications for temporary overlay and other equipment at venues, the reduction of service levels and the look of the Games in venues and in the Olympic and the Paralympic Village, the optimization of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay operations, the encouragement of stakeholders to optimize their delegation working in Tokyo, and also the staffing plans for the Organizing Committee.

The results of these efforts will now allow Tokyo 2020 to estimate the total additional costs associated with the postponement, including the approximate costs for COVID-19 countermeasures. The Organizing Committee will work through these topics in detail and present its updated budget by the end of this year.

On the countermeasure planning, President Bach commented: "We also see that the work on COVID countermeasures is making good progress and that more and more measures are being added, including the potential availability of vaccines and rapid testing—where we are very confident that they will be available. All these new methods will be added to the toolbox, which will then be available when we have to make the final decision. Then we can decide which tools we can take out of this toolbox and apply them for the safe organization of these Olympic Games, about which both the Organizing Committee and the IOC are very, very confident."

The IOC EB also agreed on an addendum to the host city contract, which has now been approved by all the relevant parties.