Little coverage as Olympic relay starts in Japan

As the Olympic torch began its 16th relay on its world tour there were no Live pictures relayed to European viewers. CNN showed a few clips on its hourly news bulletin. The BBC also showed a few minutes Live coverage just after 01:00 BST [12:00 GMT, 09:00 local time], and Sky dropped into Live coverage at around 01:20 BST. But coverage is very low key compared to the London, Paris and San Francisco relays. Ashley Hayes, the only Westerner on the Japanese leg, spoke to CNN and told of her wish for the torch to be seen as a symbol of friendship. John Wood, a pro-Tibet activist, also spoke to the news channel. He insisted he would protest peacefully. Nonetheless there have already been arrests as some protesters have attempted to disrupt proceedings. Lined with thousands of Chinese supporters the torch is continuing to make its way through Nagano. A plan to start the relay from the Zenkoji temple was abandoned after protests from monks and the relay instead started from a parking lot in the town.