HIROSHIMA - A flame-lighting ceremony for the torch relay of the upcoming Asian Games was staged in Hiroshima on Thursday, following a similar event in Tokyo earlier this week.
Hiroshima Mayor Mazumi Matsui drew the ceremonial flame from the Flame of Peace at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which commemorates the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city.
Hajime Moriyasu, manager of the Japan men's football team, was among the attendees at the event.
Moriyasu is one of the most high-profile sporting figures associated with Hiroshima, having spent much of his playing career with J.League first-division club Sanfrecce Hiroshima, which he later managed.
The first of the flame-lighting ceremonies took place in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The Japanese capital hosted the 1958 Asian Games, while Hiroshima staged the event in 1994. The latest edition will be held mainly in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan.
The flames are set to be put together in Nagoya, Aichi's capital, on Saturday before the torch relay starts, with three-time Olympic women's wrestling gold medalist Saori Yoshida serving as the first runner.
The relay is scheduled to travel across Aichi Prefecture before the Sept. 19 opening of the Games, which run through Oct. 4.
