From left, Indonesian badminton player Taufik Hidayat, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lan Lijun, Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister Adhyaksa Dault, Indonesia Cultural and Tourism Minister Jiro Wacik and President of National Sports Council Rita Subowo, light a flame holder with a torch at the end of the Indonesian leg of the Beijing Olympic Torch relay in Jakarta, yesterday. Police detained eight people, including a Dutch citizen, and seized flags from pro-Tibet activists in Indonesia as the Olympic torch relay staggered its way through Asia. - AP

TOKYO (AP):

IT WAS supposed to all start with a gala send-off at one of Japan's most venerable and majestic Buddhist temples, the 1,400-year-old Zenkoji.

Instead, the Beijing Olympic torch will make its Japan debut in a parking lot. If you want a good view, now's the time to join the riot police.

They will likely have all the front-row seats.

Mounting problems with the Japan leg of the relay - scheduled for Saturday - are just the latest in a string of embarrassments for Beijing, which had hoped the journey of its torch worldwide would be a showcase of solidarity and support for its Games, which begin in August.

Hope sputtered

Following China's crackdown after anti-government riots and protests in Tibetan areas in March, that hope has sputtered badly.

Protests or extremely tight security have marred the torch on virtually every stop it has made, including emotional scuffles in London and Paris, a massive detour in San Francisco and orders for police in Nepal to shoot if necessary when the torch makes its way up the Himalayan mountains.

The torch's run through India, adopted home of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was whittled down to a virtual sprint under a 15,000-strong police presence through a tightly guarded government sector in New Delhi. In Malaysia, police quickly shut down a protest by three Japanese, who unfurled the Tibetan flag and yelled "Free Tibet" before getting roughed up by Chinese supporters of the games.

Invitation-only relay

In Jakarta, Indonesia, a shortened, invitation-only relay took place yesterday outside a sports stadium. Members of the public were barred from attending.

More problems are expected in Australia, the torch's next stop.

Organisers of the Australian leg said Monday the route there had been shortened by four kilometres (2.5 miles) to avoid some central, narrow streets.

Torch relay organiser Ted Quinlan predicted several protest 'hot spots' and said the route could be changed if protests got out of control.

"We have to have our contingency arrangements, at least in our heads, and ready for everybody to adopt should it become necessary," Quinlan told Sky News television.

Metal barricades

Hundreds of police will guard the torch on its run through Canberra tomorrow. Security officials have erected metal barricades along the 16-kilometre (10-mile) route.

Protests were already revving up in Japan.

The often harassed and rerouted torch relay was to hit the streets of the mountainous city of Nagano in central Japan that hosted of the 1998 Winter Games on Saturday.

But well before the flame's arrival, it was causing quite a stir.

Last week, officials at Zenkoji, which was often showcased during the Nagano Games, said they would not make good on their promises to host the start of the relay event, citing security concerns and unease among its monks and supporters over China's treatment of their fellow Buddhists in Tibet.

Adding insult to injury, Zenkoji announced yesterday that it will co-host a prayer ritual for Tibet on the morning of the relay.

Tsering Dorjee, who was born in India as the son of Tibetan exiles, said the event is to pray for peace.

"We want to mourn for all the people who died in Tibet and pray for peace," Dorjee said in a statement published on his group's website yesterday. "We are not opposing the Beijing Olympics. We are not opposing the torch relay, nor do we intend to sabotage the event."

Zenkoji's sudden about face forced organisers to conduct a last-minute search for an alternate site. On such short notice, they found only a vacant lot.