Skip to main content

"Hell Running" - Chinese Site Calls Japanese Women's Distance Running Too Cruel

http://www.yukawanet.com/archives/5166613.html

translated by Brett Larner

High schooler Yumika Nagahama leading the Jan. 15 National Women's Ekiden for the Kanagawa team.

Since the start of the month it's been cold in Japan.  A record-breaking kind of cold that has seen snow piling up even on the Pacific side of the country, and for better or worse that word "snow" has been generating buzz around the world.  Yes, it has been a cold winter, and now that fact has become a hot topic in China.  Particularly in relation to women's distance running.

The picture above is from the "National Women's Ekiden" that took place in Kyoto on Jan. 15.  Kyoto experienced a blizzard, even "whiteout" conditions.  Far too harsh to go ahead with staging a running race in conditions like that.  It's natural to wonder why the race wasn't cancelled, but it seems likely that they weren't expecting the snow to escalate to the point that it would be enough to stop the race.

Japanese women's distance running is being called, "hell running," "crazy" and "too cruel."  The athletes are probably so focused on their race that they can't worry about such things, but is anyone worried about whether it's OK for the people watching?  There's no telling what will happen next year, but if people are expressing concern all around the world then they have to take some sort of measures.

The original article, translated below: http://tt.mop.com/16274540.html

Unbelievable!  "Appalling" Images of Japanese Women Running Relay in Snowstorm

Recently Japan has experienced a winter of bitter cold, but although Kyoto's National Women's Ekiden was held as scheduled, anyone who watched it onscreen would feel that the snowy conditions were too cruel.  Snow fell from the Jan. 14 and through the noontime start on the 15th, but despite 10 cm accumulation and temperatures close to zero it wasn't enough to stop the race.  Never having been cancelled since its first running, the National Women's Ekiden went ahead as planned with a full live television broadcast.

During the broadcast announcers struggled to accurately cover the race, saying, "There is really too much snow," as the snow obscured runners' bib numbers.  After a total of 42.195 km the women representing Kyoto won the final victory.  Some netizens expressed admiration of the first-class resistance to the cold exhibited by the Japanese, but many viewers were distressed by seeing the "appalling" scenes on the broadcast.  It became difficult to make out the human forms on the screen.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's not too cold. The real travesty was the announcing.
Unknown said…
Zero Celsius? As in 32 Fahrenheit? I live and run year-round in Minnesota, USA, where our winters usually resemble Siberia. These conditions are nowhere near "cruel", evidenced by pictures of these strong women in singlets voluntarily choosing to compete.
Brett Larner said…
I take the criticism as an indication of differing cultural ideals of gender identity or women's roles in society. Many people watching the race including me saw hundreds of strong, tough badasses. Others apparently saw delicate flowers they think belong in a hothouse.
Metts said…
Civilians, non runners, will never understand.

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...