TOKYO - A giant floating monument of the five Olympic rings was temporarily removed Thursday from its location in Tokyo Bay to undergo safety inspections and maintenance following the games' postponement due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The monument, measuring 33 meters in width and 15 meters in height and weighing about 69 tons, will be reinstalled in the same location in the Daiba area in the capital's Minato Ward after about four months of work.
Shortly before 10 a.m., a barge carrying the monument was towed to a factory in Yokohama, near Tokyo, where it was made.
The monument had been in the area since January to celebrate the year of Tokyo Olympics, which is now postponed to next summer.
