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Temple refuses torch ceremony
18/04/2008 10:35 - (SA)
Tokyo - A Japanese Buddhist temple has pulled out of plans to host a ceremony for the Olympic torch relay because of concerns over Tibet, a local government official said on Friday.
Zenkoji Temple, a landmark in Nagano City, which hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics, reversed an earlier decision to host the starting ceremony on April 26, said the head of the local relay committee, Kunihiko Shinohara.
"We respect the decision by Zenkoji and will change the starting venue," he told reporters.
The temple cited China's "crackdown" in Tibet for the decision, according to Jiji Press news agency.
An official at the temple's secretariat said earlier on Friday that the temple had "fondly accepted the plan" to host the starting ceremony in late autumn when contacted by the city.
The temple rang bells for the opening ceremonies for the 1998 Nagano Games as well as for the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
'Monks are very concerned'
"But the situation has changed... Monks here are very concerned" about what happened in Tibet, the temple official said.
"We shared a strong feeling that we are the same Buddhists as Tibetans," an unnamed Zenkoji monk was quoted by Jiji Press as saying.
Zenkoji was built in the seventh century and draws six million visitors every year.
Nagano has already cancelled a public celebration linked to the torch relay due to security concerns.
The early stages in London and Paris were overshadowed by demonstrations against Beijing's crackdown on protests in Tibet. The third stage in San Francisco was drastically curtailed.
Tibetan exiles in India say more than 150 Tibetans have been killed in China's crackdown on the protests against its rule of the Himalayan region. Beijing says Tibetan "rioters" have killed 20 people.
The torch will travel through 21 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, between Greece and mainland China. It will arrive in Nagano from Canberra and then go on to Seoul.
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