Know Your Japanese Runners in Boston

The withdrawal of Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki), Japan's best championship marathoner of the modern era, from the Boston Marathon field with a stress fracture is a blow to what would have been the best Japanese contingent in Boston in decades.

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the way, arriving in Boston off wins in his last four marathons:

2:10:03, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, 12/17/17
2:18:59 CR, Marshfield New Year's Day Marathon, 1/1/18
2:11:46 CR, Kitakyushu Marathon, 2/18/18
2:14:12, Wan Jin Shi Marathon, 3/18/18

Kawauchi hopes to at least equal Suguru Osako's top 3 placing in last year's Boston, his optimism growing as the weather forecast gets worse.

Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) runs for what was once Japan's most successful corporate team in the marathon, his best of 2:12:31 coming 6 years ago at Lake Biwa and his fastest recent time a 2:13:33 in Tokyo last year. Okamoto earned a place in Boston by winning February's tough and hilly Ome 30 km in 1:33:09.

A high-volume marathoner like Kawauchi, Kansuke Morihashi (Raffine) won January's Katsuta Marathon in 2:16:51 to earn an invite to Boston. A month later he followed up with a PB of 2:14:25 at the Tokyo Marathon, jogging the Seoul Marathon three weeks after that in a fun run effort.

Topping the women's side is another idiosyncratic high-volume marathoner, Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead). Yoshitomi won the hilly Katsuta Marathon in January in 2:33:56, the second-fastest winning time in event history, then came back a week later to smash the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon course record with a 2:33:00 win. A week after that she took 9th in the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships in 1:13:58. Two weeks later in Tokyo she ran 2:30:16 for 6th, cutting over a minute off her five-year-old PB. Three weeks after that, a 2:33:57 win in her hometown Saga Sakura Marathon.

Ome women's winner Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) rounds out the Japanese lineup in her marathon debut at age 24. A 1:11:12 half marathoner, Ashi ran 1:44:14 in Ome to seal up a trip to Boston. Interestingly, joining her in Boston as her coach is the just-retired Kazuhiro Maeda, a longtime rival of Kawauchi's who was part of the 2013 Moscow World Championships team alongside both Kawauchi and Nakamoto.

All-time Boston Marathon Japanese Men's Top Ten

2:09:27 - Toshihiko Seko, 1st, 1981
2:10:13 - Toshihiko Seko, 2nd, 1979
2:10:28 - Suguru Osako, 3rd, 2017
2:11:02 - Hiromi Taniguchi, 4th, 1993
2:11:32 - Kenjiro Jitsui, 6th, 2006
2:11:50 - Toshihiko Seko, 1st, 1987
2:13:15 - Takayuki Inubushi, 10th, 1998
2:13:40 - Tomoyuki Taniguchi, 5th, 1987
2:13:49 - Yoshiaki Unetani, 1st, 1969
2:13:55 - Akinori Kuramata, 11th, 1998

All-time Boston Marathon Japanese Women's Top Ten

2:24:11 - Reiko Tosa, 3rd, 2006
2:26:26 - Yoshiko Yamamoto, 2nd, 1992
2:26:39 - Yuko Arimori, 3rd, 1999
2:26:52 - Kiyoko Shimahara, 5th, 2006
2:29:24 - Nobuko Fujimura, 3rd, 1996
2:30:34 - Mitsuko Hirose, 8th, 1999
2:30:40 - Yurika Nakamura, 6th, 2010
2:31:12 - Junko Asari, 6th, 1997
2:31:31 - Kaori Tanabe, 10th, 2001
2:31:39 - Yoshiko Yamamoto, 6th, 1995

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

JAAF Announces World Road Running Championships Half Marathon Team

The JAAF announced the men's and women's half marathon teams today for this fall's World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen: Women Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 (1st, 2026 Osaka Half) Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 (1st, 2026 Nat'l Corp. Half) Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 (2nd, 2026 Osaka Half) Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 (3rd, 2026 Osaka Half) Men Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 (4th, 2026 Marugame Half) Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 (5th, 2026 Marugame Half) Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 (6th, 2026 Marugame Half) Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 (7th, 2026 Marugame Half) Mile and 5 km teams, if any, will be decided after June's National Track and Field Championships. © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

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