25,000 runners take part in Tokyo Marathon

At first glance of the photo I thought, 'Wow! So many people supporting Ukraine in Japan!' Alas, only a marathon.

Great. It completely ruined my morning commute.

A true super spreader event!

No social distancing, accelerated breathing -what could go wrong?

Well, it shows the blatant hypocrisy that prevails in Japan at present with the extreme restrictions on international travel.

Will the runners and watching crowds take PCR tests at the end of the race?

Kipchoge lost about 10 seconds due to the field taking a wrong turn following a lead vehicle earlier in the race.

It wasn’t even ‘Groundhog Day’! No ‘unexpected’ Tokyo crises (‘this week’) so,… Gov. Koike was feeling energetic enough today to come out and be there at the start early this morning. - Funny how that works when everything is ‘sunny’.

“Congratulations!” to the front runners and “Well Done!” to all those that even completed the marathon.

I actually ran it and finished! I'd like to thank all the volunteers writing really hard to make it happen. To all complaining about stuff here, which part of "PCR testing just before this event"did you NOT understand! This web site is not an area to vent your frustrations in your "life", by the way.

I couldn't believe this marathon was approved when Mr Kishida is trying to be strict here and there. The whole Ginza area was crowded today. Insane.

Kuripisu:

A true super spreader event!

Before I was allowed to join, I had to record my body status for two weeks (temperature, etc) in a special app, and I got PCR tested negative -of course- yesterday. I paid for the privilege and truly enjoyed the day. I finished it in a reasonably good time, thanks to the perfect weather and hard training.

Get a life, will ya?

They allow these mega events but they decide to cancel my kid's school trip??

I was one of the runners. Happy to finish it.

Congrats to all the finishers. I'm sure a lot was done to ensure the participating runners' health. But much less so with the spectators, or were there none at all? Standing in the same spot close to other persons, shouting "Gambatte" etc with a loud voice...than walking in a crowd to ride a crowded train...that imho is where the spreading is being done!

Running or walking add life to our life span. Congratulations to winners Eliud Kipchoge, Brigid Kosgei, and to all the challengers and participants at the Tokyo Marathon.

It's fine, I doubt any of them were drinking beer whilst running and looks like it was morning time so we'll before 8pm, no covid could spread here.

I guess we will see the number of infections skyrocket in the next 2 weeks and then the Government closing it’s borers to foreigners again! Just when things were normalizing they went ahead and held this unnecessary super spreader event!

Fantastic !

Would love to know the numbers behind the decision making.

I had a place in the Osaka Marathon just last Sunday that was cancelled to general runners, odd Tokyo could go ahead with similar numbers.

Political to have the capital as the first? Because the big star Kipchoge had committed to Tokyo?

Guess we will never know.

Incredibly ignorant. Sponsors and participants.

well done people, back to a normal life, any disease treatable!

you have to be afraid only of fear!

And entry restrictions were waived for Mr. Kipchoge and Ms. Kosge?

There are many foreigners who still cannot get into Japan. But these two? Not a problem, and they even got paid to show (even before the winning purse).

Idiots !

Now just make sure you don't enjoy a beverage or pleasant dinner after 8pm on a worknight, because that's how COVID spreads.

What a preposterous decision to allow this to go ahead.

Does anyone suspect there might have been palms greased with well-stuffed brown envelopes in order to get this superspreader green-lit?

A Fun Run where the elite runners were allowed into the country while family visits remain restricted; creating road blocks for people commuting by cycle in the process. And yeah this super spreading event is allowed when we can't get a beer after 8. What a joke.

Is this a Joke?….. bars must close at 8 but squeezing this many heavy breathing people together is deemed acceptable???

just amazing

Restaurant workers suffer from lack of money due to shorten hours, the citizens can’t have a decent meal after 8pm, foreigners with visas to study and work in Japan stranded abroad all in the name of controlling the infection but the authorities had the nerve of holding this super spreader event! Shame on them!

Yeah where are all those people who screamed “super spreader” at everything that other people wanted to do but couldn’t?

Great feeling fresh air and healthy body

Awesome to see!! This proves People have decided to learn to live with COVID and come out of the Bunker. Well, at least 25,000! Run Forest Run!

Ha ha !

Great to hear all the hoops that were jumped through to go for a run!

Freedom at last!

Good, good. Covid cases will be on the rise again in a couple of weeks.

I guess that means Kishida and the boys will use this as an excuse to blame foreigners again and take even longer to allow regular airline traffic from overseas.

have the marathon or don’t, I don’t care.

But If they are gonna green light this worthless event, at least be consistent and allow foreigners in again as well as businesses and let things get back to “normal.”

Foreigners and those from abroad have/had to be quarantined and tested multiple times and were told to wear ‘masks’ in isolation(ffs) but thousands upon thousands can go running about Tokyo?

What more is there to say?

Very sad hypocrisy by J-Gov and Tokyo's governor. Joggers elbow-to-elbow, misty breathing in each others' faces, but no tourists who can easily stay a few meters away from others and wear masks while they're at it. Mindless prejudice.

Foreigners and those from abroad have/had to be quarantined and tested multiple times and were told to wear ‘masks’ in isolation(ffs) but thousands upon thousands can go running about Tokyo?

What more is there to say?

So your logic is that everyone should have been free to not wear masks and be quarantined and isolate, and they also should have done the marathon? How would having even more exposure risk for covid overall be a preferable situation?

Don't let any foreigners in the country because of covid but 25,000 running in a marathon in Tokyo is fine.

It will be interesting to see if they got away with trying to normalize now.

Let us hope so.

Don't let any foreigners in the country because of covid but 25,000 running in a marathon in Tokyo is fine.

Are you suggesting they should have let in all the foreigners, as well as having the marathon? How would the having a greater overall increase in covid exposures be beneficial to society? Do you not think choosing to limit some things may be a more prudent course of action? Of course, some people think ALL activities should have been restricted, is that what you're saying?

As someone who respects a happy medium, it would seem to me that allowing some things and disallowing other, is how you find a happy medium. But a lot of people just want extremes - some of them thought we should have stayed entirely open the whole time, some think we should stay closed entirely, forever. Both extremes are pretty baffling to me.

I guess some people can only think in extremes though, or they expect life to be fair or something. It's quite simplistic world view.

If I returned to Japan I would be chucked in a Government detention centre due to the unfounded fear that a triple vaxxed foreigner is spreading Covid, but those who turned out for the marathon today are clean and virus free.

No social distancing, accelerated breathing -what could go wrong?

But I was told in the U.S. that super spreader events only happen indoors. Thousands of people congregating outside are everyone's right and science proves that.

i love japan

“If I returned to Japan I would be chucked in a Government detention centre due to the unfounded fear that a triple vaxxed foreigner is spreading Covid, but those who turned out for the marathon today are clean and virus free.”

Vaccine proof did not have any value for this event, for your information. All participants were tested before picking up their race packet and only were able to attend if test result was negative. That doesn’t mean we are all clean and virus free if one doubts about test kit (PCR) reliability. For those who are still whining about drinking after 8pm… you can drink at anytime of the day, at your own place… who cares? The discouragement of serving alc too late in an enclosed environment is to lower the risk coz you are to converse with each other then, in close proximity. Running out in the sunny open the risk is lower. I am feeling fine today!

I wonder how many of these people used public transportation to get in and out of Tokyo.

@ Foreigner in Japan

Nice to see that you are cognizant of the situation unlike some who really do not recognize what is going on…

returning people entering only stay in a government hotel for three days. No one is put in detention centers. Did you make a 5-year exit visa before you left?

They aren’t always hotels, they are “government facilities” that you can’t leave, often do not have windows and served inedible food. You are detained by the government for scurrilous quarantine reasons. There is no need to do this now, none at all.

So your logic is that everyone should have been free to not wear masks and be quarantined and isolate, and they also should have done the marathon? How would having even more exposure risk for covid overall be a preferable situation?

…..

How about asking the organizers of the Tokyo marathon that question?