Torch helps bring peace, friendship

NAGANO, Japan: The 16th leg of the torch relay of the Beijing Olympics concluded its Japan stop on Saturday afternoon in the city of Nagano.

Japanese marathoner Mizuki Noguchi, who clinched the gold medal for the Athens Olympics women's marathon, was the leg's last torchbearer. She lit a cauldron with the torch, marking the end of the Japanese route.

Hundreds of Chinese students and academics in Japan converged at Wakasato Park, the relay's terminus south of the Nagano central railway station.