The Olympic flame is to visit 14 Japanese prefectures before the Tokyo 2020 Torch Relay resumes next March ©Getty Images

In an unprecedented move, the Olympic flame is to  visit 14 Japanese prefectures before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay begins.

The Japanese Ministry of Internal affairs and Communications has announced that it will be exhibited in 73 municipalities during the course of the five month tour across the country.

Minister Ryota Takeda said: "We're hoping it helps build up excitement for the Olympics."

The flame will be put on show in a safety lantern at all stopping points.

It has been displayed at the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo since the beginning of September.

Former Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi  suggested a touring exhibition to Tokyo 2020 President Yoshirō Mori and the itinerary was fixed over the last month.

The first planned stop is to be Ishikawa prefecture in central Japan on November 7. 

In 1964 when Tokyo last staged the Games, the flame visited  Ishikawa part of "Route number one" which took the Telay around Japan in four sections.

It is also expected to visit the UNESCO world heritage site at Shiretoko on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō. 

It is also expected to visit areas not covered by the Torch Telay itinerary.

Large crowds defied fears over coronavirus to visit the Olympic flame at Sendai station in Tokyo when it was put on display in March ©Getty Images
Large crowds defied fears over coronavirus to visit the Olympic flame at Sendai station in Tokyo when it was put on display in March ©Getty Images

The tour is scheduled to last until March 16when it reaches Iwate.

The domestic Torch Relay is set to begin at J-Village football training centre in Fukushima prefecture on March 25.

The  121-day Torch Relay has been adjusted by a single day from that originally planned to take place  in 2020.

The flame was kindled at Ancient Olympia in March but the Lighting Ceremony was scaled down as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19. 

The traditional relay around Greece was suspended after unexpectedly large crowds turned out in the town of Sparta. 

The handover to Tokyo 2020 was held in an almost empty Panathinaiko stadium in Athens where officials observed social distancing during the Ceremony.

When it first touched down on Japanese soil, the lantern had been put on display at Sendai station in Miyagi province, an area affected by the 2011 disaster.

It  was withdrawn from public view after local reports estimated some 50,000 had queued to see the flame lantern, despite concerns over the virus.

It is highly unusual for the flame to be in an Olympic  host city so far ahead of the Games, although  it was taken to host city Beijing from Athens before beginning its global journey in 2008.

A touring exhibition of Torches to be used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is also set to begin on Monday (November 2) and visit the municipalities of Tokyo.