Olympics torch relay begins in Fukushima

(KYMA, KECY/CNN) - Japan is celebrating the start of the Olympic torch relay, more than seven months after the games were supposed to close.

The lighting ceremony begins the four-month countdown until the Tokyo summer games. Some 10,000 torchbearers will travel through Japan with the flame before it reaches its destination at the olympic opening ceremony on July 23rd.

The Olympic games began in April of 1896 in Athens, Greece. Since then, the Olympic games have only been canceled three times--once due to World War I and twice because of World War II. With the change from Summer 2020 to 2021, this is the first postponement, not cancellation, of the games.

The torch relay took place in Fukushima--the site of a massive earthquake and tsunami 10 years ago.