Training in Tokyo

Where in Tokyo? If you are anywhere within distance of the Imperial Palace, the loop around is about a 5K. Lots of other runners.

I also found that if I ran at 5 or 5:30 in the morning the roads are pretty clear of traffic and you can run the neighborhood. It is light too. Most rivers has paved paths along them.

There is a running club of expats but I forgot their web site, maybe I can find it.

If Nippon Marathon chimes in, he knows much more than I. Jason is knowledgeable too.

I'm jealous, Tokyo is a great city.

Pretty central I think. The office address is Nihonbashi 1-chome Building, 1-4-1 Nihonbashi Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8230, Japan. It appears to be between Tokyo Station and the stock exchange.

I think the problem will be missing the UK track season when I'm trying to concentrate on my running for a few years.

E.

If your hotel/accommodations are in the same area, then that is not bad at all. The 'palace' is very near and a good warm-up/warm-down run gettin to and from. There is a toilet or two available as well on the loop. The loop encounters no traffic and is uphill, downhill, flat with some nice views of the palace and the city. Plus, the streets are very wide in the Nihonbashi area, so early morning runs are no problem.

I am not sure what the policy is regarding using the National Stadium for track workouts. Tokyo is very short on tracks. The stadium is a subway ride away so a definite time consumer.

You will certainly meet other runners at the palace and they might offer some great suggestions on alternatives too.

have a look on this link, I have run with them and and a friend of mine lived there for 3 years and ran for tham most of this time.

That is the club I was thinking of. Thanks.

Thanks! It looks like they are a good group to train with although I'd be needing more than 1 track session a week.

Regarding track work...if you cannot find one for more than once a week, the palace loop is marked every 100m so you could do some straight line speed work. You'll see the markings embedded in the cement.

Good success to you and have fun.

Nothing confirmed as yet - they'd still need to offer me a good contract rate and decent expenses :)

I'll agree that Tokyo can be crazy, it sucks money up, but it can be good. A weekend in Roppongi is like no other. Never a chance to catch your breath most of the time. But....if you can handle Tokyo you can handle anywhere in the world.

I liked Fukuoka too. Himeji is a favorite, more for the sights. Japan Rail Pass gets you around cheap.

To the original poster Ewen, are you going to teach English? If you have a choice of cities, try a less expensive one wich is anywhere but Tokyo. If no choice, then make the best of a hectic city. You'll either like it or hate it, but give it a try.

Matt

I lived in Tokyp for two years, each time for a period of one year. First time at age 19 (320 Yen to the $1). Great time, everything insanely cheap, not too may foreigners (1977). Everyone was buying a round of beer just to practice English.

Second time was 1990 and then I have traveled to Tokyo/Japan once a quarter for the last 12 years.

The city does get to you and it helped to be able to fly to HK or Singapore for a weekend just to get away...(I know, I should have gone to Bangkok!). Yes, it gets suffocating at times. You always get discriminated against, so get ready for that. It's not bad, just little things. At the same time, being a foreigner means you can get away with little things too. Food is good and healthy, air not bad in the winter time, just cold as heck. The girls are very, very friendly and easy. Very easy.

I could live there again with the ability to travel out about once a quarter.

No, not teaching English. I do freelance IT work and my current client may want me to work on the Japanese roll-out of a system. No choice of where to work at all.

IT guys can make some great $$ in Japan. When I was looking for new work focused on Japan, I could not believe the IT opportunities.

If you are really good, check in with some the major search firms with Tokyo offices, Korn/Ferry, Heidrick & Struggles, etc. Some good local headhunters too, just check the English yellow pages at the hotel...if you are interested.

I went to Tokyo in September for a month, I found it quite frustrating for running, the route around the palace was marked every hundred metres! But the traffic was very heavy and the air quality poor, the other place I found was a park which also had a track, there were college teams training here every morning on a 1k road loop, I talked to them and they said it was virtually the only place they could train, this was near Meiji Dori.

There was also new footpaths to run on around the Toyo Bay area, urban parks, pedestrain routes, a bit like Docklands but on a larger scale.

Moneywise I was actually really surprised at how inexpensive it was, I found it was considerably cheaper for eating out and drinks and local travel than London and the food was fantastic.

Loads of great countryside outside teh city for weekend training jaunts...

Track access in Tokyo can be tricky. Some but not all wards have very fine 400 meter tracks, but access is often restricted, and fees are often charged to users other than registered local clubs and schools.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Shinjuku has a 200 meter outdoor tartan track that anyone can use for a fee (200 yen/hr last time I went in October). The facilty is an easy jog from Shinjuku Station or any Shinjuku hotel, right opposite Shinjuku Gyoen. I wouldn't use this on a regular basis, but it's convenient for a traveler who really has to get on the track.

Owen,

Did you run Fukuoka? Thought you were on the 4-hour bus with me for the course tour (slept through most of it). Was that your girlfriend/wife? How did it go for you?

All of these people have had good advice, but here is the place to go for running: Ota Field.

It's located across from Yoyogi Park. You'd get of at Harajuku on the Yamanote line. Very nice track. Get there. Change (100 yen lockers, money returned after) Go to yoyogi and run 2 laps for warm-up (app 7 km). Then you can rock and roll. It was used for practice in the Tokyo Olys. I go out there at odd times and run with the corporate teams sometimes (Konica, etc.) or Atomi is another good club that practices there. It's open from 9-9 or something like that. Cold showers for free. Used to be hot. What are your PRs? Always looking for others to do workouts with. 0 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day.

The Koukyo course around the palace is excellent for hilly running as there isn't much to be found. Some trails in Chichibu and Tama area to be found. Good luck w/ your decision.

Best advice is to contact Namban Rengo (their website address was given earlier in this thread). I trained and raced with them while i was based just outside Tokyo. Bob Poulson is the man you wany to talk to. If you want to enter any races while you're out there, these guys do several road races and ekidens. Its really hard to enter races independantly; entries close months before the race and all the entry forms are in japanese, of course. If its track racing you're interested in, be aware that due to the heat and humidity (a big problem for a runner from the UK like myself) the track season pretty much closes down in July and August. Namban enter one open meeting in July, which is a decent standard, and then the Shibuya track Championships in September, which is pretty low quality.

For training, Yoyogi park is OK; there's a road loop of 1.95k and an off-road loop of about 2.5k. There's a group from Namban meets here every Sunday for a long run. Across the road is a track (Oda Field) which is only open to the public on a Wednesday. National Stadium isn't open to public, and thats about it for tracks in the centre, although you can find several in the suburbs, mostly within easy reach of centre. Imperial palace is fine, if a bit polluted and often teeming with tourists. Get there early. Rivers are your best bet; the 2 big ones are the Arakawa and Tamagawa; both have paved footpaths stretching miles. All rivers seem to have decent footpaths and are quiet and safe.

Japanese racing scene is great, well organised and enthusiastically supported. Enjoy it!

Well, the offer of work in Tokyo (6 months from Jan 2005) did come through but I've turned it down. I would love to work in Tokyo, but my current focus is on the running and I can train and race better (or perhaps it's easier for me to train) either in London or Bath than I can in Tokyo.

Thanks for all the information.

E.

I hate Tokyo.

I've only been there a couple of times, but the place is a f***ing zoo. an EXTREMELY expensive zoo!!!

I do have a major fetish for Japan, but I like Osaka and Fukuoka much much better. In Osaka, you can run along the Yodogawa River.....that's been the scene of some of my most infamous 40km runs.

Fukuoka is really nice too. Fukuoka is consistently rated as one of the best places to live...in the world.

Jason