Tokyo Marathon

No, I didn’t run the marathon. But I did watch and support the runners! Today was the 10th Tokyo Marathon and it was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoy the marathon festivities.

With a maximum number of entrants of 36.500 and over 300.000 who apply, it’s not easy to get yourself a Tokyo Marathon starting ticket. You have to apply in August the year before and lucky runners are selected by lottery. The Marathon course runs accross the city, passing by many important places as if it were a sightseeing tour.

This morning I watched and cheered for the runners near Iidabashi station at the 6km point, where the Marathon course came by only a few metres from where I live now. Then I moved to the 26km/30km point at Asakusabashi, and after that I went to the finish at Odaiba’s Big Sight, where – of course – a festival with food stands was held. For a marathon this big, I found the actual finish gate a bit disappointing…

Today’s weather was great, but what really made today one to enjoy were the runners. I’ve seen some people wearing ballet skirts at the Amsterdam marathon before, but people running the Tokyo marathon take dressing up to a whole different level. Today I’ve seen a wide range of silly hats, but also many full costumes (of which many seemed way to warm to run a marathon in). People dress up as cartoon and game characters, resulting in several Pikachu’s, Super Mario’s and Dragonball characters running around. Men dressing up as female characters are no exception. But to be honest, I wasn’t really suprised by the many dressed up runners. I guess it is pretty much what I expected from a marathon being held in Japan.

Below is a selection of the pictures I took today. It’s really hard to pick a favourite, but I liked the Super Mario girl with fake mustache and Where’s Wally. Which one is your favourite?