Waves, smiles but no cheers as Olympic torch relay kicks off under pandemic shadow

Soccer training facilities are pictured at the J-Village training center where torch relay of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is set to begin in Naraha, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, March 23, 2021. Picture taken March 23, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

FUKUSHIMA/TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - With waves, smiles and streamers, but no cheers, the Olympic torch relay kicked off on Thursday, beginning a four-month countdown to the postponed 2020 summer Games in Tokyo, the first ever organised during a deadly pandemic.

Casting a pall over celebrations already scaled back because of coronavirus measures, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles before the relay began in Fukushima, an area hit hard by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.