4th – 8th of March – Osaka, Himeji and Kobe

Leaving Tokyo I got a ticket for the shinkansen to Osaka. I didn’t get a window seat but no one were sitting at the window so I practically had it anyway. The weather was clear so we had a beautiful view of Fuji outside Tokyo. Unfortunately they didn’t show the speed of the train on the screens in the cabin so you never knew how fast exactly you were going. But the ride was so smooth (and acceleration was very obvious when leaving a station) so it never felt particularly fast. I want them to have an open carriage so you can sit outside and really get a feel of the speed!

Fuji seen from the Shinkansen.

Arriving in Osaka I changed to the subway and got off at my planned station. When I had finally waddled my way to the hotel with my bags and very sore legs I realized that had I gotten off at the station before I could have exited the station on the same block as the hotel. “Could have” is an important wording as the stations often have 20+ exits and because they span such large areas, if you don’t know the area it’s pretty easy to get confused when you exit about where you are.

The hotel here turns out to be a bit oddly located. I specifically didn’t go for a more expensive hotel in the center and neither a cheaper option on the city outskirts, but the one I ended with was nicely positioned in the middle and in comfortable walking distance from Dotonbori, an area recommended for tourists. It turns out the area is pretty fancy; directly across from the hotel there is a McLaren retailer, one block down a Lamborghini retailer, another block down a Ferrari one, and following that you’d find Roles, Dior, Georgio Armani etc. Definitely not a place you’d find the average riff-raff. 

 

A casual shop across the street from the hotel.

I rested my legs for a bit before going for a walk to the part of town called Dotonbori. It’s basically just a area with a large collection of eateries, restaurants, booths and whatnot on all streets and back alleys. Absolute chaos – it’s a popular place everybody goes to in the evening, apparently. Amidst it all I managed to find a place with no line and very nice ramen. 

 

Row, row, row your boat...

Returning to the hotel around 2000 I sat down on the bed to do some reading which resulted in me waking up 2 hours later. I decided that meant I ought to get ready to go to bed for real. I went to bed – and woke up at 4 and concluded that I should probably also turn off all the lights in the room before waking up another 2 hours later where I actually made it up and turn off the lights before falling asleep again and slept for another 2 hours before finally waking up.

The following day I decided to aim for Osaka castle so obviously I didn’t find it at all and instead ended somewhere completely else. I had to circle around and diligently follow the map for me to finally arrive at my intended destination. A large green area with the castle – a single building – towering in the center surrounded by moats. The weather hadn’t really changed all day, unfortunately, so it kept being overcast, windy and with the occasionally shower so I didn’t hang around for long. After a break back at the hotel I returned to Dotonbori where I found some delicious Takoyaki (dumplings – similar to Danish æbleskiver but savory – with a piece of octopus and cheese in the center). I was also looking for some okonomiyaki (basically a thick cabbage pancake with various protein mixed in) but the places I found all had long queues outside that didn’t seem to be moving – and it was still raining. So I decided to skip that plan for now. Both Takoyaki and okonomiyaki are specialties of Osaka. 

 

Osaka castle.

 

The walls were built from stone cut to size. This wall consists of the biggest piece found at the castle. 

The "octopus stone", app. 5,5m x 11,7m and 108 tons.

 

On the Wednesday – the 6^th – I grabbed the shinkansen to Himeji as I was interested in seeing the Himeji castle, the largest castle in Japan. I thought it was quite beautiful and it was clearly very well maintained and a pride of the Japanese. It’s not just the castle itself but a larger area (and 3 main buildings) protected by the inner moat. I booked a 2-hour tour at 1300 and before that I went out to grab lunch at a place with Japanese curry; rice with a fried port cutlet (“pork katsu”) smothered in curry (but not like what you’d find in India but it’s distinctly Japanese). The tour brought us around and into the castle, but when entering we were to take off our shoes and put them in a bag we were handed. With no heating that was definitely a chilly affair. But walking around in the castle and getting stuff pointed out by our guide was really interesting. Reaching the upper levels the stairs turned narrow and steep – almost ladders – with very little headroom. When they built the castle back in the 1600’s they clearly didn’t have Westerners in mind. How inconsiderate. 

 

Himeji castle. Slightly bigger than Osaka castle.

After the tour I realized that it may not have been as necessary as I had thought; everyone had the same access as us and there were plenty of informational plaques spread out throughout the castle. Though it does add a bit having a guide, and on a daily basis there are only 2 English tours with 10 clients at most each time, so I was still glad that I had made it.

I did a quick walk around the castle grounds before returning to the train station and taking the shinkansen to Kobe. As I was a bit early for my dinner reservation I had a walk around the main station area. I don’t think I have ever seen this many steak and meat restaurants gathered in one place. Not even in Argentina. It was beautiful. 

 

 The train from Himeji to Kobe.

Entering the restaurant you were facing the counter where the cooks did their magic on the heat plates with the customers facing them on the opposite side of the counter. There was a slight cooked meat-haze setting the mood for the evening. I sat down, were handed the menu and couldn’t decide what to have. On principle I ended up with their finest selection (A5, grade 12) and getting a 200g ribeye and 90g fillet. Two very different kinds of meat, both with their pros and cons. The full menu was a starter (3 slices of wagyu roast beef – the tenderest I’ve ever had), soup (best miso soup ever), salad and vegetables with the meat. The steaks were amazing – the taste was intense and no matter how much wasabi or extra salt & pepper you’d add you could still easily taste the meat. The fillet was tender like soft butter – it was impressive and mind blowing. When the chef gave me the last two pieces he apologized that it was the chewy parts of the meat, but I had to tell him they were still more tender than any other steak I had had outside this restaurant. 

 

My dinner. A ribeye and filet. It was even better than it looks. 

 

A certificate to prove it was genuine A5 wagyu beef. Notice the nose print from the cow. 

Throughout cooking the fatty edges had been removed and the chef had been chopping them up in small pieces, moving them around on the heat plate letting them simmer in their own juices and greasing the plate for the other bits he was cooking at the time. In the end he piled on a large handful of bean sprouts on top, mixed it up, let it all get warm and served it as a finishing touch. No meat when to waste. As “dessert” I was served a thick slice of a very sweet potato cooked in the remaining meat juices. Delicious!

Leaving the restaurant I was happier, fuller and a bit poorer (you definitely get to pay a premium for eating “real” top of the line Kobe beef and not “just” wagyu) than when I arrived, with a certificate in my hand confirming it was real Kobe beef and the family tree to grandparents of the cow I had (and not being able to get a finger print of a cow I instead got a snout print!). I returned to the station and took the shinkansen back to Osaka.

On my last full day in Osaka I visited the aquarium, a large square, almost cubic, building, where the majority of the path you followed circled the center of the building holding a giant tank containing among other things two whale sharks. On the outer side of the path there were other large pools where the biggest had some incredibly playful dolphins. 

After this I returned to Dotonbori where I found a small hole-in-the-wall place making some delicious okonomiyaki (and a couple of takoyakis as starters). Relaxing the rest of the afternoon I was ready to head out and return to Dotonbori where I had a pile of sushi for dinner. 

 

Takoyaki stand in Dotonbori.

 

 

Dotonbori by night.

Checking out on the Friday was a breeze and so it was getting to the Shin-Osaka station. But from there it started going downhill. I noticed something wasn’t right when I noticed much more chaos than expected around the gates to the shinkansen area, and it didn’t take long for me to notice the information notices informing passengers about a “contact between person and vehicle”. The entire shinkansen network and been stopped resulting in extensive delays and cancellations. Some trains had at this point been delayed for more than 2 hours. My train had been cancelled up to a few stops before Osaka and otherwise “only” delayed 25 minutes. After the extensive wait we were finally on our way and arriving in Tokyo the delay had increased to 40 minutes. In Japanese terms this was significant. This meant that I had gotten to Tokyo at around 1500 and my biggest worry was to go across the city in a local train in the middle of rush hour with all my luggage, but it seemed like I managed to miss the worst part. I checked into the hotel where my tour would start and waited for the start of the tour welcome meeting.

3rd – 4th of March – Post-race and checking out

I had booked a spot for the run’s victory dinner as I usually do when possible. Previous victory dinners booked with and handled by the travel company were held in a tower (Berlin), on a river (New York) or just more informally going to a nearby restaurant. Apparently in this case it was all part of the package deal the travel company purchased with the organizers, so we and others staying at this hotel were picked up and driven to what was a very fancy place apparently often used for wedding celebrations and the like.

It turned out to not be a sit-down dinner but rather a reception-like thing where in different rooms you had different tables serving different foods; fish, sushi, beef, etc. There were a lot of people and it all felt a bit chaotic and crowded resulting in sometimes long lines to be able to get any food – something I didn’t need after running a marathon. We as a group couldn’t get together and settle down and talk about our day as everyone spread out as soon as we arrived. I was also part of the second “shift”; those finishing the run in less than 3:30 were brought here before us, but unfortunately they were a bit delayed so we couldn’t enter until half an hour later than planned – but without getting an extra half an hour in the end. So apart from feeling crowded, chaotic, impersonal it also felt very rushed towards the end. And as the portions were typical reception portions (as in: a couple of bites) you didn’t really feel you had time to not stand in a queue somewhere to get something to eat as you were hungry.

As least when going there and back the bus didn’t take the tunnel like in the morning, so yay?

Coming back to the hotel we all agreed that the “dinner” had been a major letdown and disappointment, especially considering the steep price we had had to shell out for it. We all went to the hotel’s top floor (30^th) to visit the bar where we had a few drinks before turning in for the night. I believe the majority of the group will be leaving for the airport tomorrow at 0700 while I’ll be sleeping in for a bit (if the jetlag lets me) before continuing my trip.

(it’s worth mentioning that the travel company sent out a mail to all participants after coming home acknowledging the bad experience we had with the victory dinner. They had decided to – on their own – refund a part of the price we had paid for the dinner. They had confronted the organizers with the bad reviews but they had – naturally – completely stonewalled them. Amazingly done by the travel company!).

The following morning I had my last breakfast at the hotel before checking out and heading for the train. It had been a pretty great hotel – high end and several breakfast restaurants (but the two major ones basically had identical buffet selections). Usually when riding an elevator you hear a constant hum and hear another elevator or the counterweight flying by but here you could hear absolutely nothing. They were completely quiet. There were 8 elevators and when you called for one, one of them would ding and then ding a second time when it arrived. That way you had time to get ready for when it arrived and saving time instead of having to rush around when it arrived. They had an entire area blocked off as it was only used for wedding parties. Multiple restaurants. Less than 3 minutes from the nearest train station – but you had to take a train to get close to Tokyo Central. It was inconveniently located and expensive as hell – someone checked the prices if they booked by themselves and concluded the organizers were making absolute bank having this part of the race package. Oh well – in the end it meant being able to run the Tokyo marathon.

Final (?) update for the Abbott World Marathon Majors

As mentioned previously the Tokyo marathon opened up for more participants through travel agents, so suddenly I got moved up 2 years meaning that instead of running Tokyo marathon and completing my 6 Marathon Majors in March 2026 I got the opportunity to do it in 2024. I didn't need much convincing to do that.

This means that I have now completed the 6 marathons majors as follows:

Berlin - September 2019 - 3:58:16
New York - November 2019 - 4:11:53
Boston - April 2022 - 3:59:30
Chicago - October 2022 - 3:58:02
London - April 2023 - 3:58:42
Tokyo - March 2024 - 3:59:06

So this is the final update for the marathon majors.

Well, maybe not completely final; Cape Town and Sidney are considered candidate runs in an attempt to be accepted as the 7th and 8th majors, and further out Shanghai is also lurking on the horizon. Interesting times ahead. But for now, I'm enjoying the accomplishment and my new medal.

3rd of March – Tokyo marathon

We were getting picked up by a bus at 0645 but not having fully recovered from my jetlag I once again avoided my alarm and thus had a relatively relaxing morning – all considering. I had expected to be able to see parts of the city on the way to the starting area, but a few minutes after leaving the hotel we dipped down into a tunnel, and a few minutes before arriving at our destination we came back up onto street level. So that was… something.

 

As this was my last of the 6 majors I got this to put on my shirt. 

I put it on the back and I was surprised at how much response I got from others with encouragements and thumbs-ups. 

It was a cold morning and there was nothing to do in the starting area in the 1½ hours before they’d close the starting corrals, so the wait felt even longer.

As opposed to similarly-sized runs we were all sent off in a rolling start instead of in waves. So when the gun went off at 0910 there was very little extra waiting necessary, the only wait was for the runners ahead of you – and app. 8 minutes later I crossed the starting line. The start was made possible by the fact that the start was on some very wide streets so despite it being crowded (which naturally happens when 38000 runners set off at almost the same time) it never felt uncomfortably crowded.

 

And we're off!

Being a cold morning it was a bit rough starting but reaching around 4-5 km we finally passed some space between the tall buildings and were hit by the sun and thereby got some actual warmth which greatly improved the conditions. For the rest of the run we often switched between sun and shade with significant change in temperatures. While there was a breeze we were protected from it most of the time – when we weren’t it was nice to be cooled down, though it didn’t take long before it got cold. During the last 7-8 km the wind had dwindled and being out in the open it was by far the hottest part of the course.

The course had a lot of repetition in form of going out and back on the same streets. It didn’t bother me as much as I had expected; you got to see the same from a different angle (which might as well have been a completely different place not knowing the city and focusing on trying to survive the run) and you got to greet other runners even if they were far ahead or behind you. At around 14-ish km and the following few km we were running parallel with the course’s +/- 31 km marker and at the point in time I got there I got to see Kipchoge racing along (who turned out to “only” be at around 10^th place at the time) so we got to cheer him and some of the other elites along.

 

I may be smiling on several photos but this was how I genuinely felt. 

The Japanese are quite reserved, even in cases like this, so you never got the chaos and noise from the onlookers that you’d experience during the large US races or London. But there weren’t many passages along the way where there weren’t people cheering us on. But if you managed to gain eye contact with someone their enthusiasm spiked and you got your own little personal energetic cheer to get you along.

 

Tokyo Tower in the background.

Due to the wide streets it was difficult to avoid excessive zig-zagging when getting water and getting back into the flow, so when crossing the finish line my watch said 43,17 km. I speculated that some of that could have been due to the GPS signals bouncing between the tall buildings, but those I talked with after the run had registered similar distances, so apparently the wide streets just resulted in more cross-movement than usual.

Despite the extended distance (and a way too long wait at a toilet break where I lost around 3 minutes) I still managed to reach my goal of completing below 4 hours – my finishing time was 3:59:06. I came in as 13089 out of 35411 overall (top 36,96%), 10905 out of 26682 men (top 40,87%) and 1929 out of 3757 in my age group (51,34%). A result I am quite happy with and quite similar to other equal runs. 

 

The final majors medal representing all 6 marathons 

(Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston, London and Tokyo). 

Crossing the finishing line meant that I had completed all the 6 marathon majors and when getting the probably least inspiring medal for the run I could continue waddling along and pick up my 6 star finisher medal, one that is significantly more impressive-looking. We also got handed a back that got filled with energy drink, water, bath salts(??), wipes, heating blanket and a parka. There was a miserable lack of snacks which I crave after such a run. I found “my” bus and only a few minutes later we were off and returned to the hotel – this time above ground.

Returning to the hotel I had a long much-needed shower before heading back outside and visited the kiosk right outside to stock up on snacks for the afternoon. By time, too, as I was walking around slightly lightheaded.