How to participate in running competitions to be held in Japan

Published in

kyoshida’s log

3 min readJan 21, 2017

Hi. Today, I would like to share with you the way to participate in running competitions to be held in Japan.

I am an amateur runner who have participate in Japanese running competitions over 10 years. And, I have already participated in running competitions which include not only road running, but also trail running and Rogaining, over 50 times.

Let’s begin!

Search and Select a competition

First of all, you would have the competition you want to participate. If not yet, you should search the competition by the internet.

For example,

Register to the competition

You already read the official site of the competition. The way to entry the competition will be written in the site. If not, you should send to organizers e-mail about the way.

In many case, you have to register via a broker site. The most famous sites in Japan is the following.

These sites are requesting membership registration.

Some participants of competition(for example, Tokyo Marathon) will be chosen by lottery. And, some participants of competition(for example, ULTRA-TRAIL Mt. Fuji) must have obtained points.

Anyway, you need to read carefully the race information which include cancel policy on the official site.

Search and Book the accommodation

Once it is determined that you can participate the competition, you have to search and book the accommodation.

I strongly recommend you to book a nearby accommodation as close as you can walk to the start line. Because you could have relaxing time to start more than far place you book.

In most hotels except a small and simple inn(called Ryokan), receptionists can speak English well. So, in my opinion, you can request to receptionists in advance so that take you to start point by car in the morning of the day, if you would not book a neighboring accommodation. It’s worth a try :-)

Go to the start point

You have to go to the start point from the airport via the accommodation. Google maps is very convenient at such times.

In many cases, you will get on a train or get in a taxi. Almost station staff can speak English, but almost taxi driver could not speak. So, you should show notes that wrote the destination. And, Uber is not available except for metropolis(like a Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya).

Fortunately, being ripped off by taxi drivers is rare case in Japan.

Train and Take a rest

All that is left is training and sleeping. You must not train hard when the competition gets close.

Enjoy Japan and the competition!