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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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Olympic torch relay approaches Nagano City
The relay runners will, however, have to cover three more legs before entering the city for the Winter Olympic Games on Friday.
As the runners set out from Toyono, a small town neighboring Nagano City, in the afternoon the silver roofs of the M-Wave skating arena and the White Ring figure skating rink in the city were visible glittering in the sun.
The 4.4-kilometer stretch was covered by a team of local junior high school students.
The relay is slated to cross Nagano City borders Friday after passing through the towns of Obuse, Takayama and Suzaka on Thursday.
Seiko Hashimoto, an Olympic speed skating bronze medalist and now a House of Councillors member, served as torchbearer in the morning stretch leading to Toyono.
The Olympic flame is being carried to Nagano on three different routes originating in northern Hokkaido, Kagoshima on the southwestern main island of Kyushu and Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
Upon entry into the city the three flames will be united for the lighting of the Olympic cauldron in Saturday's Games' opening ceremony.
(Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun