japan running news

72,000 paris of eyes followed a lone 19-year-old Waseda University student as he circled the track at the Olympic Stadium with effortless grace. The date was October 10, 1964, the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics. The runner was Yoshinori Sakai, the final Olympic torchbearer. Step by step he climbed the 182 stairs and, extending his right arm, ignited the flame that burst forth from the Olympic cauldron. Below him spread a sea of multicolored uniforms, and beyond the assembled teams stretched the horizons of a Tokyo in a time before modern high rise buildings. "It was the best seat in the house," Sakai recalled.

Sakai was born in Miyoshi, Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 just an hour and a half after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The perfect symbol of recovery from defeat, the foreign media dubbed him "Atomic Boy," but Sakai told foreign journalists, "The war has nothing to do with me. Please look at who I am now, today, not at the past."

Sakai b…

https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170320-00000067-dal-spo
https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2017/03/21/0010019282.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

In preparation for August's London World Championships, the members of the men's and women's marathon teams attended a team meeting in Tokyo on Mar. 20.  Having announced that this year's World Championships would be his last time contending for a national team, Yuki Kawauchi (30, Saitama Pref. Gov't) displayed extraordinary resolve as he said, "As a representative of Japan in London I fully intend to burn it all."

JAAF Long Distance and Marathon Development Project Leader Toshihiko Seko, 60, gave a 30-minute speech in front of the athletes and their coaches, bemoaning a sense of crisis as he said, "If things keep going this way marathoning is going to die out."  Quoting the words of his legendary mentor, the late Kiyoshi Nakamura, Seko told them, "Do not be like scissors or a razor, e…

http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20130404/ath13040405010000-n1.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/sports/other/headlines/article/20130403-00000012-spnavi
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20130404-1107367.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
click here and here for photos of the flamboyant DeNA uniform

Inheriting the remnants of the historic S&B corporate team following its disbanding at the end of March, the new DeNA Running Club introduced its uniform at a Tokyo-area press conference on April 3. With regard to the uniform's colorful design, supervising head coach Toshihiko Seko said, "They're going to have to be just as flashy in their running to pull off a uniform like this."

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Kiyoshi Nakamura, the mentor who led Seko to marathon greatness.  DeNA ace Yuichiro Ueno plans to run his marathon debut this year.  "We're combining the old and the new, and I'm whipp…

                                   Seko with the announcement. Click photo to enlarge.

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/09/01/kiji/K20120901004017610.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009359.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009418.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009427.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009421.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009429.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20120831-1009436.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
S&B greats group photo (c) 2012 Tim Chamberlain, all rights reserved

S&B Foods announced Aug. 31 that its men's running team, long the home of Japan's best distance runners, will be disbanded at the end of the fiscal year next March.  He himself the team's greatest success at the marathon, S&B …

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1136217/index.htm

A propos of nothing, really, here's a great old article I stumbled across yesterday about pioneering Japan-based Kenyan great Douglas Wakiihuri. I last saw him at the 2006 Ohtawara Marathon near his then-home in Tochigi Prefecture. JRN's Mika Tokairin interviewed him a few months later, describing it as one of the two most interesting she has ever done. After retiring he pursued a music career in Japan and subsequently returned to Kenya where he helped establish the Sotokoto Safari Half Marathon.

Strangely enough, if you follow the 'Toshihiko Seko' link in the article it takes you to my YouTube channel to see the videos Mika filmed of Seko playing drums and singing 'Minnie the Moocher' in Japanese at last year's Tokyo Marathon.

Update: Here's another SI article from the archives, this one about Toshihiko Seko winning the '87 Boston Marathon.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau…

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090702/oth0907020838001-n1.htm

an editorial by Sankei Newspapers Editor in Chief Ikuro Beppu
translated by Brett Larner and Mika Tokairin

Japanese women's marathon pioneer Nanae Nagata passed away on June 27, far too young at only 53 years old. More people probably remember her by her maiden name, Nanae Sasaki. In 1985 her wedding was one of the Yukan Fuji newspaper's big scoops.

On the day of her dowry ceremony Sasaki came to the house of her coach Kiyoshi Nakamura in Tokyo's Sendagaya neighborhood during her early morning training. As a young Yukan Fuji reporter I was there waiting outside the front door, and I said "Congratulations!" to her. Then the aging master appeared. Both were surprised that the media had found out about Sasaki's impending wedding, but as Nakamura admitted Sasaki inside he turned to me and gave a simple, "Enter." As I sat next to Sasaki, Nakamura implored me, at times stridently, at times g…

http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/olympic-marathon-runner-nagata-dies-at-53

As Nanae Sasaki, Nagata was Japan's first great world-class marathoner woman. A little more bio info can be found here.