The Annual Tokyo Marathon last Sunday (Feb. 28) ran smoothly. Perhaps not every one of the 35,000 participants ran smoothly, but the event was organized and managed exceedingly well. The relatively low-tech, inclusive and international nature of the marathon makes it a much better showcase for Tokyo than the Olympics would have been.
The winners deserve special mention, of course, and this year Mr. Masakazu Fujiwara became the first Japanese man to win the race. Last year, Ms. Mizuho Nasukawa was the first Japanese woman to win. Competition, though, is only a small part of the event. Most of the 35,000 runners are happy just to participate. They are not alone.
This year, 311,441 people applied for one of the limited number of running spots, almost enough runners for one marathon a month!