Hiroshima Hosts Torch Relay for Asian Games

In the city where sport and history are never far apart, Hiroshima again became a stage for symbolism on Thursday.

At Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a flame-lighting ceremony was held to launch the torch relay for the upcoming Asian Games, tying one of Asia’s biggest sporting events to a place that still defines the global conversation about war and peace.

Event Highlights

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Japan men’s national team head coach Hajime Moriyasu took center stage at the event. Matsui drew fire from the Flame of Peace, the memorial flame dedicated to the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945 U.S. atomic bombing. From that source, he lit a torch, then passed the living symbol on: a lighting rod held by Moriyasu was kindled from Matsui’s torch, before the flame was finally transferred into a golden lantern.

It was a carefully choreographed sequence, but the weight behind it was unmistakable.

Moriyasu, whose own playing career as a corporate and professional footballer began in Hiroshima, used the moment to connect sport’s competitive edge with the city’s enduring message.

“I think that sports have the power of binding different values and cultures together,” he said, calling on the athletes heading to the Asian Games “to compete with all their strength while wishing for peace.”

From a city rebuilt out of devastation, the flame will now help usher in a festival of sport spread mainly across Aichi Prefecture in central Japan, where the quadrennial Asian Games will run from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4.

A lantern lit in Hiroshima will arrive in Aichi next month. The question now is how brightly that call for unity and peace will burn once the medals, crowds, and pressure take over.