'A golden chance': Japan's Fukushima eyes Olympics for recovery message

The J-Village sports complex in Japan's Fukushima was once a staging ground for battling the 2011 nuclear disaster, but next year it will host Olympic teams and the torch relay, sending a message of recovery.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay will begin at the centre, and Olympic softball and baseball matches will be played elsewhere in Fukushima, as part of efforts that officials and residents hope will help repair the reputation of a region now synonymous with the nuclear meltdown.

"The torch relay is a golden opportunity to send a message about our reconstruction to the world," said Yusuke Takana, a 32-year-old official at the J-Village, from where the Olympic torch will set off on March 26, 2020.

"The J-Village overcame the disaster and has been revived in its original form as a sports training centre," Takana said.

Built in 1997 as a fully fledged sport training complex, the J-Village was radically transformed by the nuclear meltdown.

Thousands of workers wearing radiation ...