The Olympic Flame's time in the Tōhoku region features prominently in the film ©Getty Images

Tokyo 2020 has released a short film which depicts how sport has helped the recovery of the Tōhoku region in the years since the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Entitled Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery Efforts and Tokyo 2020 Games: Forging a Common Path into the Future it runs four-and-a-half minutes and is set entirely to music. 

The information is given in English subtitles.

The release was timed to coincide with the first Olympic softball matches held in Fukushima, the prefecture where the tsunami triggered a meltdown at the nuclear plant.

Presentations designed to show how much Tokyo 2020 has done to help the affected areas have been made from the special Recovery and Reconstruction Games booth in the Main Press Centre at Big Sight, a convention centre where journalists from all over the world have been gathering.

"What has sport achieved since the disaster?" the film asks.

“What can sport do to help our future?"

Children are shown learning about Miraitowa, the Olympic mascot, and voting for its design; Games volunteers are seen receiving training for their duties.

The Olympic women's softball competition in Fukushima is already underway ©Getty Images
The Olympic women's softball competition in Fukushima is already underway ©Getty Images

"One of the underlying principles of the Tokyo 2020 Games is to support the reconstruction following the devastation brought by the Great East Japan Earthquake", organisers said.

The Tokyo 2020 Games, dubbed the "Recovery and Reconstruction Games", have sought to "help drive forward the vigorous reconstruction efforts undertaken in the stricken areas and to bring hope to local children through the power of sports".

Initiatives have included "Sport Experience" sessions which feature heavily in the film.

It shows the arrival of the Olympic Cauldron, originally lit at Tokyo’s National Stadium but which has been relocated to Ishinomaki in the Miyagi prefecture.

The film features the Olympic Flame taken across the region - before the original postponement of the Games - in an Olympic safety lantern by steam train.

There are also sequences showing MOCCO, the 10-metre tall puppet on a string which arrived last weekend in Tokyo after making a journey through the affected areas.

The Grand Start of the Olympic Torch Relay from Fukushima in March this year is seen in the film. 

Tomorrow, the Torch Relay completes a journey of 121 days.