A ceremony was held in Chiba City to replace the Tokyo Paralympic torch relay, which was canceled in Chiba Prefecture due to the spread of the new coronavirus.
The Tokyo Paralympic torch relay in Chiba Prefecture was scheduled to be held on a public road in Chiba City, but it was canceled due to the spread of the infection, and an alternative torch ceremony was held on the 18th.
130 torchbearers, who were scheduled to run in five sections in Chiba city, performed a "torch kiss" to transfer the torch from torch to torch.
At the ceremony, Koichi Takada, an athletics medalist at the Barcelona Paralympics and the Sydney Paralympics, and players from the wheelchair basketball team "Chiba Hawks" based in Chiba City participated as torchbearers.
After that, an unattended "departure ceremony" was held to send the torch gathered from all the cities, towns and villages in Chiba prefecture to Tokyo.
Nobukazu Hanaoka, who participated in wheelchair marathons such as the London Paralympics, declared that "the precious fires gathered from 54 municipalities in Chiba Prefecture will be delivered to Tokyo," and the torch was sent to Tokyo.