According to my last update I was to run the Tokyo marathon in 2026. Towards the end of September last year I received a mail from the marathon travel company letting me know that they had extra spots for the 2024 run. So my schedule got bumped up 2 years. The horror!
For obvious reasons I’m not traveling across the world for just a weekend to run a marathon so I’ll have a few other things planned for the trip.
27th of February – 3rd of March
Flying out to Tokyo on a direct flight; leaving around 1100 and arriving the following morning less than 14 hours later. I’ll have a few days to catch my breath and have a look around, including running a 5km run Saturday morning (“Friendship Run”) before running the marathon on Sunday the 3rd.
The course starts near Shinjuku at the Metropolitan Government office, going east and reaching north of Imperial Palace and Chiyoda City. From there we have a short detour north towards Ueno before returning to Chiyoda City, going further south before turning east and north to Taito City, returning the same way for a bit before going further east and south past the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine before once again returning the way we came. Reaching the east side of Chiyoda City again and Tokyo station we continue further south all the way to Tamachi and passing Tokyo Tower and once again turning around, the same way back, finishing the run at Tokyo station.
Quite a bit of repetition on the course with running on roads in both directions which I’m not a big fan of, but it’s a completely new city for me so that’s a big plus.
4th – 8th of March
The day after the run, hopefully not too sore, I’ll be checking out from the hotel and taking the shinkansen to Osaka where I’ll spend the following four nights. Not many plans other than hanging out and seeing the city. I do have plans on the Wednesday to grab the train to Himeji to see the castle there – dated from 1333 and the largest in Japan – and on the way back stop by Kobe where I have a reservation for a hopefully delicious dinner centered around kobe beef.
8th – 21st of March
I’m doing a 2-week group tour starting in Tokyo so I’ll take the shinkansen back to Tokyo to meet with the group. From there we’ll start off going west to Kanazawa, continuing to Takayama, then going south all the way down to Hiroshima, and returning passing through Kyoto and Fujikawaguchiko (near Fuji) before returning to Tokyo. We’ll be spending 1-2 days at all the locations giving us time to see the city/area before shinkansen’ing on to the next location.
One could argue that a day (or the two in Kyoto) isn’t enough to see it everything a city has to offer, but if you were to stay long enough to be fully satiated these two weeks could have been more than double the time. I suspect it will likely at times feel a bit rushed but also a good balance between getting to see a large part of the country and still at least having some time at each stop.
22nd – 30th of March
Returning to Tokyo I’ll spend the rest of my trip there, having time to have a good look around and get to see the different parts of the city. I am looking into doing day trips out of the city, maybe north as that is a part that hasn’t been covered by the previous days. I have already booked a tour in Nagano on the 25th – not because it was the site for the winter Olympics in 1998, but you can see the
Japanese macaques (snow monkeys); those known for sitting in the hot pools surrounded by snow. Being relatively late in the winter there may not be much snow left when I get there, but I guess I’ll see when I get there. The cherry trees are forecast to start blossoming around the 22nd in Tokyo and being fully blossomed a week later, so I will just have time to see that (hopefully – depending on weather and such) before flying home Saturday morning.
As far as I can see this will be the longest trip I’ve been on yet, but considering how interesting the country (and food!) seems I felt it would be waste not spending some extra time now that I was there for the run. There will likely be a certain level of cultural shock when getting there but that’s all part of the fun, right?
For obvious reasons I’m not traveling across the world for just a weekend to run a marathon so I’ll have a few other things planned for the trip.
27th of February – 3rd of March
Flying out to Tokyo on a direct flight; leaving around 1100 and arriving the following morning less than 14 hours later. I’ll have a few days to catch my breath and have a look around, including running a 5km run Saturday morning (“Friendship Run”) before running the marathon on Sunday the 3rd.
The course starts near Shinjuku at the Metropolitan Government office, going east and reaching north of Imperial Palace and Chiyoda City. From there we have a short detour north towards Ueno before returning to Chiyoda City, going further south before turning east and north to Taito City, returning the same way for a bit before going further east and south past the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine before once again returning the way we came. Reaching the east side of Chiyoda City again and Tokyo station we continue further south all the way to Tamachi and passing Tokyo Tower and once again turning around, the same way back, finishing the run at Tokyo station.
Quite a bit of repetition on the course with running on roads in both directions which I’m not a big fan of, but it’s a completely new city for me so that’s a big plus.
4th – 8th of March
The day after the run, hopefully not too sore, I’ll be checking out from the hotel and taking the shinkansen to Osaka where I’ll spend the following four nights. Not many plans other than hanging out and seeing the city. I do have plans on the Wednesday to grab the train to Himeji to see the castle there – dated from 1333 and the largest in Japan – and on the way back stop by Kobe where I have a reservation for a hopefully delicious dinner centered around kobe beef.
8th – 21st of March
I’m doing a 2-week group tour starting in Tokyo so I’ll take the shinkansen back to Tokyo to meet with the group. From there we’ll start off going west to Kanazawa, continuing to Takayama, then going south all the way down to Hiroshima, and returning passing through Kyoto and Fujikawaguchiko (near Fuji) before returning to Tokyo. We’ll be spending 1-2 days at all the locations giving us time to see the city/area before shinkansen’ing on to the next location.
One could argue that a day (or the two in Kyoto) isn’t enough to see it everything a city has to offer, but if you were to stay long enough to be fully satiated these two weeks could have been more than double the time. I suspect it will likely at times feel a bit rushed but also a good balance between getting to see a large part of the country and still at least having some time at each stop.
22nd – 30th of March
Returning to Tokyo I’ll spend the rest of my trip there, having time to have a good look around and get to see the different parts of the city. I am looking into doing day trips out of the city, maybe north as that is a part that hasn’t been covered by the previous days. I have already booked a tour in Nagano on the 25th – not because it was the site for the winter Olympics in 1998, but you can see the
Japanese macaques (snow monkeys); those known for sitting in the hot pools surrounded by snow. Being relatively late in the winter there may not be much snow left when I get there, but I guess I’ll see when I get there. The cherry trees are forecast to start blossoming around the 22nd in Tokyo and being fully blossomed a week later, so I will just have time to see that (hopefully – depending on weather and such) before flying home Saturday morning.
As far as I can see this will be the longest trip I’ve been on yet, but considering how interesting the country (and food!) seems I felt it would be waste not spending some extra time now that I was there for the run. There will likely be a certain level of cultural shock when getting there but that’s all part of the fun, right?
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