Custom of running in Japan

One serious runner told me that his interest really picked up after Naoko Takahashi won the Olympic marathon gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games. But many trace current fashion back to the launch of the Tokyo Marathon in 2007. I was lucky enough to be a part of that event and to be one of 30,000 runners waiting to start in freezing rain. In fact, it was a testament to the enthusiasm of the Japanese participants. Now, more than 300,000 officially apply for that degree each year. Since the success of the Tokyo Marathon, many other cities and communities across the country have upgraded or introduced local distance races in an attempt to capture the interest of the burgeoning running community and its inclination to spend on events, equipment and revitalization of the local economy.

According to the Japan Productivity Center’s 2013 Leisure White Paper, some 25.5 million Japanese people say they are regular runners. That’s more than any other sport and a massive 20% of the nation’s population. For many of them, running is relatively new. The same source found in a different survey that 16.5% of the population now participating in jogging or marathon training have only started in the last five years. Much of that is driven by men (although female runners seem to be everywhere, too):

28.8% of men in their 20s say they started running or training for marathons in the last five years,

24.2% of 30 and something; 19.4% of 40 and something; and 17.5% of 50-somethings.

Why do many Japanese love to run?

Like I said, the country has a strong and unique track and field history. Take the ekiden for example. Long-distance relay races aren’t unique to Japan, but they’re certainly a bigger part of the national sports scene than similar events elsewhere. The ekiden involves teams of runners covering sometimes hundreds of kilometers in sections of different lengths. The most famous is the Hakone Ekiden which involves teams of 10 representing every participating university in the country. At the two-day event at the start of the New Year, each runner runs a length of around a half marathon in the total 217.9-kilometer race from Tokyo to Hakone and back passing a band between the runners at each stage. With its national television coverage and high level of competition and drama, it is a very popular national event.

Even in our own offices, the number of people who marathon, jog regularly, and talk about running seems to have steadily increased. Curious to find out what drives all these runners, we asked more than 50 of our staff why they run. It turned out that most ran a respectable 12 miles or more a week, usually spread over three days. Not surprisingly, most told us they were looking for some easily understandable combination of physical health, stress relief, and mental well-being.

Maybe it’s just part of an aging population syndrome. In previous articles, I’ve described some of the findings from our “Investigation of the Truth About Well-being,” where we found that, compared to people elsewhere, the Japanese are more concerned with physical well-being than emotional or spiritual ones. And that was due, at least in large part, to concerns about future health in a country increasingly concerned about who will care for them in the future, hence the need to stay as fit as possible. We’ve seen health-focused trends like “metabol” and the focus on losing weight, and more recently “locomo,” which is all about maintaining or increasing the ability to move freely.

When I asked our runner friends and a couple of insiders from some of the biggest running shoe brands why the Japanese love to run, I often heard versions: “because if you’re a stoic person, you can do it yourself.” . ” It sounds so Japanese. The belief in self-discipline is highly appreciated. Of course, I’m sure some are inspired by writers like the world bestselling novelist Haruki Murakami and his own account of his experiences as an ultra-distance runner, “what do I mean when I talk about running” and the way he expresses running as a shape. To really find you

Runners attract the attention of sports brand creators

It’s actually an individual sport, but I also heard that a lot of its appeal was that it’s not just enjoyed individually anymore. High-level runners can compete against themselves to improve their time, but they also have several media/clubs/social networks to share the experience with their peers. Runners of all levels spoke of the camaraderie. Even those who seemingly run alone through the Imperial Palace, like me, get to “know” others running at similar times and somehow share the experience as they measure up against each other. Of course, all the latest technology allows runners to “measure themselves” more effectively. The Japanese love technology and whether it’s their “Adidase miCoach” or “Nike Plus”, these tools have proven to be huge hits in both motivation building and comparison.