More than 5,000 bouquets are being given to athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The ceremonial flowers are grown mainly in three districts of northeastern Japan that were devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Almost 20,000 people died in the disaster that hit Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.
The bouquets of yellow, green and blue flowers presented to medalists at the Olympics and Paralympics were grown almost entirely in those three districts.
The bright yellow sunflowers that dominate the bunches were grown in Miyagi after being planted by parents whose children died in the disaster. The parents chose a hill where their children had sought refuge from the effects of the tsunami.
Delicate white and purple eustoma and Solomon's seals were grown in Fukushima - under a non-profit initiative designed to try to revive the local economy after the disaster, which had severely damaged agricultural production.
Gentians, a small bright blue flower, grow in Iwate, a coastal area that was devastated by giant waves in the 2011 disaster.
To complete the bouquet, there are sturdy green aspidistras, grown in Tokyo, and chosen to represent the host city.//BBC
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