- On Mar. 7 the JAAF announced a team of 12 men and 12 women for the Mar. 30 Belgrade World Cross Country Championships, with senior men's 10 km 3rd-placer Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) the only one of the top-placing athletes at last month's National Cross Country Championships to pass on running Worlds. There hasn't been any announcement of withdrawals by the JAAF, but as of this writing the official entry lists on the Worlds site list only 5 men and 7 women. All four people on the mixed relay team are there including the Louisiana State University-bound Yuya Sawada (Hamamatsu Shiritsu H.S.) and 1500 m NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance), but senior men's national champ Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.), the entire U20 men's team, and all but U20 women's 4th-placer Chiseno Ikeda (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) are missing. It has to be wrong, right?
- The Apr. 13 Kanakuri Memorial Meet is the first big outdoor meet on the Japanese calendar, and the men's 1500 m looks like the race of the day. On the list are NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec), all-time #2 Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko), #3 and 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru), #4 and indoor 1500 m NR holder Nanami Arai (Honda), #7 and U20 NR holder Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) and #8 Keisuke Morita (Subaru). It doesn't get much better than that in a domestic Japanese 1500 m. Tanaka is also in the women's 1500 m here, along with all-time #3 Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku), #6 Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) and high school star Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.). Bando will turn up in the men's 5000 m alongside Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko), 10 mile world best holder Benard Koech (Kyudenko) and 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) among others. Kimura is also entered in the women's 5000 m, where sub-15 talent like Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) and Naomi Muthoni (Universal Ent.) is sure to dominate.
- The Asian U20 Championships happen Apr. 24-27 in Dubai, and Japan is sending 16 girls and 15 boys. Drury will make her international debut in the 1500 m, with sub-9:10 runners Narumi Okumoto (Oita Tomei H.S.) and Nozomi Kondo (Tokai Sagami H.S.) in the girls' 3000 m. The boys' 5000 m is solid, including all-time high school #2 Sota Orita (Suma Gakuen H.S.) and #4 Kaito Iida (Izumi Chuo H.S.). Yota Mashiko (Ishikawa H.S.) is in the 3000 m with a best of 8:05.32, and Kaito Kuroki (Higashi Fukuoka H.S.) is a solid contender in the 100 m with a 10.19 PB from last year.
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