That they should occupy such a high-profile role has a particular resonance after a month in which Yoshirō Mori stood down as Tokyo 2020 President because of derogatory remarks he made about women.

The runners will not include striker Nahomi Kawasumi, who confirmed this week that she would not take part.

"I made this decision because the infectious disease problem has not yet been resolved and I live in the United States," Kawasumi said this week on social media.

Tokyo’s Flame has already burned longer than any before. Kindled in Ancient Olympia more than a year ago, it has been kept alight in a safety lamp, to embody the relay’s own motto "Hope Lights Our Way".

The last time an Olympic Torch visited Japan was as part of an international relay for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Although billed as a "Journey of Harmony", a Chinese crackdown on Tibet prompted widespread demonstrations in many cities. In Nagano, a Buddhist temple originally on the route was withdrawn from the relay, which was eventually conducted with a heavy police presence.

A decade earlier, Nagano had been the host city for the Winter Olympics.

The 1998 Flame had been welcomed at the airport by figure skater Midori Ito. Only a select few knew that she was destined two months later to light the final cauldron.

As with Tokyo’s first Torch Relay in 1964 and Sapporo 1972, the Flame in 1998 was split. Runners set out from Hokkaido, Kagoshima and Okinawa. 

"The crowds that came out to cheer on the runners, which included a number of popular celebrities, were much larger than expected, and the atmosphere along the routes reverberated with fun and excitement," said the official report.

It may be difficult to reproduce such an atmosphere in the coming weeks because of COVID-19 precautions. Organisers have pleaded for spectators to observe social distancing during the 121-day Relay.

When a Torch Relay was first held for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, 267 carried the Flame after it arrived at the German frontier at Hellendorf on the day before the opening.

"An atmosphere of tenseness prevails in the German border town of Hellendorf. It will probably never again experience such a morning as this," wrote Victor Kuron in Messengers of Peace, a souvenir book of the Relay.

There was a darker side as "fanfares were blown by Hitler Youth groups, and as the last notes died out the church bells began to ring".

The province of Saxony "was lined by phalanxes of the members of National Socialist Party organisations". Torchbearers also wore vests emblazoned with the swastika.

The cauldron at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium  was lit by runner Fritz Schilgen. That he was tall and blonde was not by accident.

In 1948, the Flame arrived in Dover less than 24 hours before the Opening Ceremony and promptly went out as it was carried ashore. To reach Wembley in time, runners carried it through the night.

In 1952, the Flame travelled through neighbouring Scandinavian countries before crossing into Finland. It had been flown to Northern Europe in a safety lamp donated by the Saar Olympic Committee.

Eventually it was brought together with one lit from the Midnight sun by Jarl Sundqvist in Finnish Lapland "in  token of the meeting of northern and southern peoples under the Olympic sign".

The journey across Finland lasted almost a fortnight. The Torches are the rarest in Olympic history. Only some 22 were made and these were refilled and used by many runners before Finland’s legendary champion Paavo Nurmi carried the flame into the stadium in Helsinki.

The journey to the 1956 Melbourne Games was the longest yet. It touched down at Darwin, then on to Cairns in Queensland for the formal start. Con Verevis, the first runner, was of Greek ancestry. He passed the Flame to indigenous athlete Anthony Mark. The Flame then travelled down the Australian East Coast towards Melbourne.

At Sydney Town Hall, a "flame" arrived carried by veterinary student Barry Larkin. Closer inspection revealed that it was actually a chair leg fastened to a plum pudding tin.

Long High Priestess Maria Moscholiou lit the flame for Mexico 1968 and travelled there to witness its progress.

"Watching what happens next in the countries where the Olympic Flame is travelling is unbelievable. I will never forget the welcome ceremony held in Mexico in 1968, when the Flame passed on streets paved with flowers," she said.

It visited the ancient temple of Teotihuacan, but student demonstrations in Mexico City in preceding days prompted the Government to intensify security. Future International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Lord Killanin wrote of "an immensely dramatic scene, marred by the innumerable armed guards who were stationed everywhere in full battle order and with loaded rifles".

In 1976, the journey through Canada to Montreal was one of the shortest, because the Flame was transmitted from Athens to Ottawa by electronic pulse. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau marvelled: "If the ancient Greeks had been able to see this instantaneous transmission of the flame, they would have considered it an act of the gods."

Less than a week later, the cauldron was ignited in Montreal’s stadium by Francophone Stephane Prefontaine and English speaking Sandra Henderson.

The Flame to Moscow 1980 was the last to be carried overland. The final stages of its journey were made with an escort which ran precisely in step.

The Americans boycotted Moscow, and in 1984, the Soviets announced their own Olympic boycott on the very day that the Relay to Los Angeles began in New York.

It even rained as the first runners set out. Gina Hemphill was the grand daughter of Jesse Owens, the great hero of 1936, and Bill Thorpe junior, grandson of Jim Thorpe, controversially stripped of his 1912 gold medals in pentathlon and decathlon. The Torch was also carried by 91-year-old Abel Kiviat, Thorpe’s team mate in 1912.

The Relay lasted 82 days and covered 15,000 kilometres. An accompanying caravan of 37 vehicles, five of which travelled with the runners, became the operational model adopted by subsequent Relays.

LA84 also devised a scheme whereby "any individual, community organisation, group or business can designate a Torchbearer for a 'Youth Legacy Kilometer' by making a commitment of 3,000 dollars to one of the youth organisations".

This angered Spyros Fotinos, Mayor of Olympia, who viewed it as commercialisation of the Flame. It caused considerable bitterness.

To this day, many resent the sponsors’ cavalcade which now accompanies the Relay.

Yet there have also been many moments of quiet dignity.

In 1992, a crowd of 40,000 watched as Barcelona’s Flame came ashore in a traditional Catalan fishing craft at Ampurias, where the Greeks had made a settlement in 575 BC. It was carried by red headed actress Marian Aguilera, chosen to " embody the goddess of fire".

Later in the relay, Juan Antonio Samaranch became the first incumbent IOC President to run with the Torch and King Juan Carlos, an Olympian in sailing watched it pass.

The Relay was touched by tragedy when 29-year-old Victoria Natalia Aguirretxa, a Games volunteer from Lejona, was killed in a traffic accident. The convoy observed a minute of silence before an extinguished Torch was carried in her honour by Alberto Zuazo.

Curiously, that evening, the first clues to the finale were seen when flaming arrows were fired into the night sky above the Montjuic Stadium as they practised lighting the cauldron.

In the new millennium, the splendour of Uluru provided a magnificent backdrop for the Sydney 2000 Relay. On a chilly morning, Nova Peris, an indigenous Australian Olympian in both hockey and athletics, removed her shoes.

"My ancestors never wore shoes and it’s a sign of respect for my people," she said. "That’s why I chose to run barefoot."

It was a Relay which lasted 100 days and captured the spirit of a "walkabout" across Australia.

The domestic Beijing 2008 Relay was long but was overshadowed by the violent protests during the preceding international sections.

As a result, the IOC decreed that future Relays be confined to the host nation.

So in 2012, after a week in Greece, David Beckham landed at the Royal Naval base at Culdrose in Cornwall with the Flame lantern.

The following morning, it flew by helicopter to Land’s End shortly after sunrise. Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie was the first Torchbearer in a journey across the United Kingdom. It also visited the neighbouring Republic of Ireland. 

On the final day came a triumphant voyage aboard Royal Rowbarge "Gloriana" and a speedboat journey along the Thames in the company of Beckham once again.

Rio’s 2016 Flame arrived first in Brasilia, where marathoner Vanderlei de Lima took up the Torch. He reappeared to light the cauldron at the Maracanã as the Games began.

In between, the Flame brought joy to many in a 95-day journey across Brazil.

Over 12,000 bearers included IOC President Thomas Bach and UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon.

Rio 2016 was described as the "perfect imperfect" Games and this applied also to the Torch Relay.

Protesters attempted to douse the Flame and animal rights groups were furious after a jaguar involved in a Torch ceremony in Manaus was later put down.

Hours after the Opening Ceremony, the Flame was taken to the city, where a cauldron was lit by Jorge Gomes in front of the Cathedral of Candelaria.

The area had a sinister history. In 1993, military death squads had killed youngsters sleeping rough nearby. Gomes himself came from a favela. His participation gave the Flame a poignant symbolism.

Tokyo’s organisers hope that their Relay will be able to inspire the same emotion.