Before starting from Iwakuni station at 8am, we were interviewed by Yamaguchi Asahi Broadcasting. The news was aired around noon of the same day and we got applause and comments like: “Are you going to Nagasaki?” from people who seemed to have watched it on the TV.

On the way, we had an accident with the torch – it caught fire to the bone, so Ms. Sunaoshi threw it to the ground for a while. Soon, some nice people brought gloves and water and we were saved by their kindness.

Then we met a runner on the street and invited him to participate. He ran 10km and was enjoying it!

His goal was in front of Tonda Junior High School.

Several girls from soft-ball tennis club were practicing here and we visited them, introduced the event and had them all held the torch.

With the happy surprise runner in the front, the girls ran a lap around the school yard, while passing the torch from hand to hand on the way.

The guard will probably remember this day because he also held the harmony torch.

At Hofu station, the goal of today’s Run, the stationmaster welcomed us and kindly held the torch. In the past, he traveled many hundreds of kilometers on the bicycle and treated us very heartily.