Iwashimizu Azusa, a 2011 World Cup champion soccer player, led her teammates as the first torchbearer of the Japanese leg of the Tokyo Olympic torch relay.
The relay leg began Thursday in Fukushima (Wednesday evening in the U.S.), site of a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The relay restart, after the Olympics were postponed by one year, was held at the J-Village National Training Center, a symbol of recovery in Fukushima after more than 18,000 people died after the March 11, 2011 natural disaster.
The torch relay streams live here.
The torch relay, with the motto “Hope Lights Our Way,” will last 121 days, through the July 23 Opening Ceremony.