japan running news

http://www.tonichi.net/news/index.php?id=27076 http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00239441.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Translator's note: Click here and here for background on this story.  Toyokawa Kogyo's head coach is Masaaki Watanabe . Despite an ongoing scandal involved allegations of the repeated use of corporal punishment by Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. 's 50-year-old male ekiden head coach against team members, principal Yoshihisa Takemoto  has confirmed that the team is continuing to train and is scheduled to run in the Feb. 3 Meigi Ekiden . Over the weekend the school grounds were quiet and empty without the usual club activities.  The streets around the school have been crowded with local residents peering into the school grounds as they pass by.  A group of men calling themselves alumni of Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. have been gathered near the front gate of the school's grounds, shouting at members of the media and telling them g...

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20130126-00000066-mai-soci translated by Brett Larner Translator's note:  Click here for more background on this story , which comes shortly after the suicide of a national-level high school basketball team's 17-year-old captain following beatings by the team's coach.   Although none of the Japanese media reports on this story mention the head coach by name, Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. is coached by Masaaki Watanabe .  Yesterday the Aichi Prefecture Government website featured an interview with Watanabe in a series titled "Shining Stars," but as of this morning the interview, #24 in a series, has been deleted . At a special session at Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. on Jan. 26 addressing allegations of the use of corporal punishment on student athletes by the 50-year-old male head coach of the school's national-level ekiden team after requests from the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education for him to exert more self-control in his leadersh...