For those who make it a rule to run regularly may feel that it is difficult to find a suitable route for running while you are away from home on business or holiday. I used to have the same problem when I was on business trip extensively more than ten years ago. And “Parkrun” was one of the solutions when I was based in London for five years more than ten years ago. At that time, I was a correspondent based in London and covering Europe, Middle East and Africa. Irregularity of my work was one of the issues and I tried to attend weekly Parkrun as much as I could to keep myself going. Over a decade Parkrun made a rapid expansion and I came to know that there are some venues of Parkrun even in Japan. This week I’ll write about the benefit and the situation of Parkrun in Japan.
My experience of Parkrun goes back to 2007 when I started running at Bushy Park next to Hampton Court in London. At that time Parkrun started to increase its number of venues in the UK and it wasn’t difficult to find a venue near from my place. As a lazy runner, I really needed to have a reason to travel a little bit and run weekly since I was too good to find excuses to skip running. Once I started to accumulate personal records, I was running a few times in a week. I even had my personal best record, which I don’t think that I will be able to make it now. But I am so happy that I can use the same ID and bar code so that I can come back to my old records.
I am going through roughly the benefit and situation in Japan. I hope that you will make your personal record of 5K in Japan when you have a chance to come over.
To Start With
Parkrun is very simple and easy for any kind of runners. All you have to do is that you register and get your unique ID and barcode, then you choose the venue and show up at the venue before 08:00 Saturday morning (There are some exceptions depending on venues). Parkrun started in 2004 and the events are held at more than 700 locations worldwide. It is free to participate, and each event is run by good will volunteers. By October 2018 5,000,000 runners were said to be registered and it is still growing. I started in 2007 and it has been nearly 15 years, but I have only run 21 Parkrun so far because I didn’t know that Parkrun started in Japan until recently. I started off my Parkrun at Bushy Park, where Parkrun started 15 years ago, and I used to drive to the venue for 40 minutes from central London. The number of participants was around 200 as far as I remembered at that time, but I checked the record of this weekend and participants of #884 event was 998.
Benefit of Parkrun
The reason why I focus on Parkrun is there are lots of benefits.
Easy and free of charge: Events are run by volunteers and there is no hustles to book and cancel just in case. Once you register and obtain your own barcode, you are ready to participate anytime and anywhere you want.
Automatic record keeping: When you finish, receive a barcode which keeps your time record and present it with your personal barcode to the marshal to register your time. In a couple of hours you will receive an email with your official time and position. More detailed data will be shown on the web page. You are free from going home and keeping your records to your computer later.
For any kind of levels: From top athletes to fun runners Parkrun is a running event for any kind of level. If you are pursuing your personal records you can and if you are running just for fun you don’t have to worry about the time and keep counting the number of times you participate. There are several milestones, and you will get special T shirts. Or you can participate as a volunteer and you don't even have to run at the event.
Expand your network: You can see new people if you are visiting at the same venue longer. Some of venues became too big for that, but there are still good chances of meeting new people.
Situation in Japan
It was a big surprise when I came to know that Parkrun had started in Japan already. But I should have checked much before about the latest situation of Parkrun in Japan. It was natural to think that Parkrun should be in Japan already. But there are only 29 venues all over in Japan yet as of 9th of July. When we look at 6 venues in Tokyo, they are not located at convenient places and it would be rather difficult for tourists from overseas who normally stay in central Tokyo. But I will pick several convenient venues for visitors. I have chosen venues which is within 30 minutes by train and easy access from the stations.
Shingashikawa Ukima: Good access from Shinjyuku and Shibuya. 15 minutes from Shinjyuku by Saikyo-Line and 5 minutes to the venue on foot. The course is simple and it is a loop back course.
Hikarigaoka Koen: Good access from Shinjyuku by Toei Subway Oedo-line. 25 minutes from Shinjyuku and 10 minutes to the venue on foot. The set up of the course is more like Parkrun in the UK.
Futako Tamagawa: Good access from Shibuya, Oimachi and Kawasaki. 15 minutes from Shibuya by Tokyu Line and 5 minutes from Futako Tamagawa Station on foot.
There are three more venues in Tokyo and two of them are located far west of central Tokyo. Tamagawa Chuo Koen is the one I usually run. It is located next to Tama River and is surrounded by lots of green. If you need to get more information about this venue, please leave a comment. Parkrun in Japan has just started and we don’t seem to have many choices, but I am very happy that there are several Parkrun that I can choose in the metropolitan area of Tokyo.
For the future development
Publicity is one problem, and another problem is the location and setting. Lots of visitors may imagine the venue is most like parks in Europe. There are big parks in Japan managed by the state and prefectures, but it is really difficult to be understood and to get permissions for the use of parks. Awareness and venue arrangement are key issues to increase fans of Parkrun in Japan.
So my advise under the current condition is that if you really want to try some of Parkrun while you are staying in Tokyo, find your accommodation in Shinjyuku or Shibuya so that you have better access to the venues. We rarely see foreign visitors at any of the venues. I am sure that you will be most welcome and have a memorable run on Saturday morning. Let us hope that there will be more development in Japan and I will be able to write more positive sides next time I write about this topic.