Skip to main content

25 Years in Japan



Today's the 25th anniversary of when I first moved to Japan. It's been interesting. If I had to pick one highlight, this pic was probably it. Glad as always I decided to move somewhere guns aren't part of day-to-day life.

Re: the pic, it's of Barcelona '92 Olympic silver medalist Koichi Morishita, me, and Spanish '92 Olympian Jose Esteban Montiel running the 2017 Barcelona Marathon. I started running marathons in '93 after watching Morishita vs. Hwang Young-cho at the Barcelona Olympics. Somehow, 25 years later Barcelona hired me to bring Morishita, Hwang and Yuko Arimori to the marathon for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Olympic marathon with the other three medalists.

I was going to run, and Morishita, who doesn't really run any more, decided the night before to jump in and run the first 11.5 km with me. I tend to be a pretty lucky person and have had a lot of good things happen these 25 years, and some not so good, but of all of them this one was the most inexplicable in how it came about and meant the most.

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

CK said…
Any inexplicable positive like getting hired to bring a Korean Champ (how did you find him?!) and others to an Anniversary Race is well-deserved Brett for somebody who has contributed so much and stuck at it through those 25 years (and maybe more before too?). Barcelona '92 ? I went there in early 1990 (while contracted to work in Madrid) to explore the possibility of working with OG. Turned out that my working visa/status for Spain was wrong and it would likely take me 6 months to see if it could even be changed, and I didn't have the determination to pursue. However used the time to check out the marathon course and it became clear that the race would be won on the long drag up to the stadium. Ended up watching Morishta and Arimori on a TV in Hong Kong - both truly inspirational performances. Here's to the next 25 years...
August 25, 2022 at 8:40 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks very much. A contact at ASICS helped with contacting Hwang. I ended up walking around town with him and his family and taking them up to Park Guell. Life is funny, huh. The taxi driver on the way back to the hotel recognized him and went on enthusiastically about having watched the race and how much the Olympics helped transform the city.
August 27, 2022 at 12:30 PM
Rigajags said…
25 years, wow! I Wish i can visita the country at some point!
I Hope you will do some Q&A sessions at some point, there would be so much to ask you and you could talk about with 25 years being there.
Happy anniversary :)
August 29, 2022 at 5:17 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games (updated)

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more