Ten years ago today Japan Running News started with a story about the withdrawal of Wataru Okutani from the Japanese men's marathon team just before the start of the Osaka World Championships. The concept was to provide a high-quality and reliable source for information in English about as much of the fascinating and exciting but otherwise invisible world of Japanese distance running as possible, and in the ten years of almost daily updates since then that ideal hasn't changed.
The timing couldn't have been better, capturing the arcs of Samuel Wanjiru, Arata Fujiwara and Yuki Kawauchi, the rise of the Hakone Ekiden-driven university men's running circuit and of Japanese men's sprinting, and the buildup toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Along the way JRN has grown in ways we couldn't have expected, bringing writing jobs for publications worldwide and TV commentating work, the chance to work directly with some of Japan's best athletes and to travel around the world, and becoming the definitive English-language resource for both interested people and for other writers looking to add expertise to their own articles and books on the subject, credited or uncredited.
Below are four lists of some of JRN's best work over the last decade. The first lists our ten most popular stories by total read count, and the second gives the most-read story for each year excluding those on the first list. The third and fourth are lists of ten editor's picks of some of our favorite work that didn't necessarily rack up the views, the third made up of translations from Japanese media and the fourth of original contnet. There's no telling what the future holds, but we'd like to thank all the Japan Running News readers, supporters and colleagues over the last decade and hope that these stories remind you of some of the highs and lows of the years so recently gone by. Thanks for reading.
Brett Larner, editor in chief
Mika Tokairin, associate editor
JRN's All-Time Top Ten Most Popular Stories
- Last-Placer Named Winner After Entire Rest of Field Disqualified - Feb. 15, 2017
- Mekonnen Wins Tokyo Marathon, Amateur Kawauchi 3rd in 2:08:37 - Feb. 27, 2011
- Kipyego, Habtumu Win Tokyo Marathon, Fujiwara Back With 2:07:48 - Feb. 26, 2012
- Aoyama Gakuin University Breaks Izumo Ekiden CR in First-Ever Big Three University Ekiden Win - Oct. 8, 2012
- Hawkins and Kirwa Win Marugame Half, Takeshita Over Muiru in Kanagawa - Feb. 5, 2017
- Samuel Wanjiru Shares the Secret of Training to Win - Dec. 24, 2008
- History Comes Calling - Kipsang and Chepchirchir Run Japanese Soil Records at Tokyo Marathon - Feb. 26, 2017
- Kawauchi Breaks World Record for Half Marathon in a Suit by 18 Minutes - Mar. 13, 2016
- Hakone Champion AGU's Isshiki Leads 27 Under 1:03 and 265 Sub-1:06 at National University Half Marathon Championships - Mar. 1, 2015
- Joseph Gitau Takes Surprise Win in Fukuoka in 2:06:58 - Dec. 2, 2012
JRN's Most-Read Stories by Year (excluding above top ten)
397 Under 70 Minutes: The 20th Ageo City Half Marathon - Nov. 20, 2007Deeper and Deeper Goes the Greatest Half Marathon in the World - Ageo 2008 - Nov. 17, 2008
Masters Runner Yoshihisa Hosaka Sets 60+ World Record at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon - Feb. 2, 2009
Japanese University Select Team Takes First-Ever International Chiba Ekiden Win - Nov. 23, 2010
Ndambiri With the Win, Kawauchi With the Wonder - Fukuoka International Marathon - Dec. 4, 2011
Kenya Over Japan for Second-Straight International Chiba Ekiden Win - Nov. 23, 2012
Mathathi Makes Transition to Marathon in Fukuoka, Kawauchi 3rd in Third Sub-2:10 of 2013 - Dec. 1, 2013
Chumba and Tsegaye Set Tokyo Marathon CRs as Five Japanese Men Break 2:10 - Feb. 23, 2014
Sonota and Nishiyama Make It a Komazawa 1-2, Yiu Breaks own NR at Ageo City Half Marathon - Nov. 15, 2015
Tsegay Over Makau for Fukuoka Win, Miracle-Worker Kawauchi 3rd - Dec. 4, 2016
“The Miracle in Fukuoka” - Real Talk From Yuki Kawauchi on “Taking on the World” - Mar. 28, 2017
Editor's Picks - Translations
Chunxiu Zhou's Japanese Coach Shinya Takeuchi Seeks to Make Personal Compensation to China for WWII - Aug. 14, 2008Reiko Tosa's "Homemade" Training for Tokyo Finale - Mar. 18, 2009
The Man in the Wig Speaks - Mar. 25, 2009
From the Editor: Women's Marathoning and the Autumn Sky - July 2, 2009
"The Rocky of the Marathon World" - Saitama Governor Praises Kawauchi - Feb. 28, 2011
Arata Fujiwara - His Olympic Marathon Defeat in His Own Words - Aug. 22, 2012
A Group Overflowing With Individuality - Aug. 23, 2012
Aum Death Cult Defendant Kikuchi, On Trial for Tokyo Bombing, Claims She Seriously Trained to Break Marathon World Record - June 3, 2014
"I Was Afraid" - Japanese Long Distance's World Championships in Its Own Words - Aug. 31, 2015
Kawauchi on Tokyo 2020: "It Feels Like the War -- If You Step Out of Line People Call You a Traitor" - June 7, 2017
Editor's Picks - Original Content
The Yokohama International Women's Marathon - An Idea Whose Time Has Passed? - Nov. 13, 2009Credit Where Credit is Due: American and Japanese Men Aged 18-22 - Nov. 26, 2009
Wanjiru in the Words of Those Who Knew Him - May 16, 2011
Japan in Wanjiru - Dec. 19, 2011
How I Learned to Love the Ekiden and Why You Should Too - Dec. 20, 2012
A Second Chance to Make the Dream Come True - Yoshiko Sakamoto at the Zurich Marathon - Apr. 17, 2015
The Shape of Things to Come: Hakone, Where Things Are and Where They're Going - Jan. 11, 2016
Japan Surpasses U.S. as World's Largest Amateur Marathon Market - Jan. 22, 2016
The Kayoko Show: Long-Term Consequences of Agonistic Interactions Between Lobsters, and the Osaka Women's Marathon - Jan. 28, 2016
An Update on Eastern European Women in Japan - Apr. 26, 2017
Comments
Congratulations Brett and keep them coming!!
Martin
And thanks for listing the top ten stories. Somehow, I had missed the No. 1 - a classic!
I can't live without it!
Regards,
Gerard K