Monday, June 19, 2017

Sports Fans and Olympic Trivia Fanatics Visit Kayo

1964 Olympic Torch Monument in Kayo, Nago, Okinawa


1964 Olympic Torch Monument



Credit for this find must be given to someone else. I don't read rocks very well.

At least a dozen times, I've been here and, even spent a night on the beach in Kayo.

A Japanese TV show, Doc had watched, mentioned this Olympic Monument.

So, we decided to see if, we could find it, on our weekly camera excursion.


Pedestal equipped to hold Olympic flame


Based upon, what the television showed, this was a landmark, we had been searching for.

There's actually a propane gas line, hooked up to that pedestal.

If, you climb the stairs and look inside, there are lava rocks and a gas burner.


Olympic written in Japanese on rock


We're no experts, at reading Japanese kanji but, we both could read some of this rock.

Olympic and fire, were some of the things, we could make sense of, in the engravings.

It's always best, to talk to locals, when a discovery like this if made. Just for confirmation.

When, I spoke to a shopkeeper across the street, I was hoping to find some old documentation.

He didn't have anything but, confirmed, the fire gets lit, once every four years.



Some Official Sources


Normally, I would go to the local kouminkan (district office) for more information.

But, it happened to be closed. That's because it was a Sunday. Then, a light came on.

Maybe if, we drove over to the Nago Museum, it would be open and, they could help.


photos from a Japanese historical text


Nago Museum, never fails, to give me information, directions and, guidance.

Once they knew, I was looking for 1964 Olympic Torch information, they dug it up.

Old photos of the torch procession and passing the flame, were provided.


photo of 1964 Olympic torch procession in Nago, Okinawa


Here's an image of the 1964 Olympic Flame passing through downtown Nago.

It cost 10 yen, which is less than a dime, for them to reproduce these copies.


Back in those days, I was still finishing high school and, wouldn't see Okinawa until 1966.

The Ryukyu Islands were under administrative control of the USA.

The Japanese flag (Hinomaru) wasn't permitted to fly, except on holidays.

The Olympic torch passed through the islands on Monday the 8th of September.


A typhoon had delayed the arrival of the torch, on Okinawa, by one day.

To avoid delay in the Olympic torch's arrival, to the mainland, the fire was split in two.

One flame was delivered to Kyushu and, the other, sent here.

The flames, were reunited in Fukuoka, Kyushu on the 11th of September.


For those folks interested in Olympic Torch Trivia, there's lots more at:




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