Lake Biwa is done, too, as you stated later.
Looking into it more, Fukuoka is getting axed for much of the same reasons as Lake Biwa. Fukuoka is apparently getting crowded out by Osaka, which is the 2nd largest marathon in Japan now. Hard to sustain the tiny "championship" marathons when the big boys start throwing their weight around. Such sad news considering the history and tradition of this marathon. I wonder if adding a women's championship marathon would have saved it (which also would require axing one of the women's championship marathons).
I would have liked to run Fukuoka one day. A pure runners marathon without the fanfare. It bothers me greatly that marathons have become human interest stories and the winners are barely mentioned.