Tokyo's Fashion District Sparkles during All-women's Run

While there’s nothing unusual about the sight of women dashing through the streets of Tokyo’s world-famous Omotesando fashion district on any given day, the intensity rose several notches when no less than 4,000 female runners turned up for the 10 km Shibuya Omotesando Women’s Run on 4 March, demonstrating once again Japan’s passion for sport.

Besides the women’s 10 km run, the inclusive event featured a 1 km family run and 1 km and 2 km kids’ runs to encourage wide participation and remind us all that sport is a rewarding and exhilarating pastime for everyone.

The women’s course went through Shibuya, a crucible of trend-setting fashion for youths and young adults and one of Tokyo’s most popular meeting places thanks to its myriad restaurants, clubs, shops, event venues and much more. Omotesando, the halfway point of the run, is world-renown as a center of high fashion and cutting-edge architecture, where the globe’s most famous brands are on full display in an array of stunning flagship stores that line the main street, the "Champs-Élysées of Tokyo".

The starting and finishing points were situated along Yoyogi Park, which surrounds the lovely tree-enshrouded compound of Meiji Shrine, built to commemorate one of Japan’s most beloved emperors. The area functioned as the Athletes’ Village during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games before being turned into one of Tokyo’s many downtown parks, an enduring heritage of the 1964 Games. Yoyogi National Stadium, another legacy of this Olympiad, is slated to host Handball (Olympics) and Wheelchair Rugby (Paralympics) in the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Masato Mizuno said: "The Shibuya Omotesando Women’s Marathon is a vivid example of the remarkable presence of women in sports. Japanese women themselves have a long record of accomplishment, crowned most recently by their victory in the last FIFA Women’s World Cup."

The Shibuya Omotesando Women’s Run also provided strong proof of the continued vigor of Japanese women athletics. The Tokyo International Women's Marathon, which began in 1979, was the world’s first women’s marathon sanctioned by the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). At the upcoming Nagoya Women’s Marathon, set to take place on 11 March, some 15,000 runners are expected.

This history of Japanese women in the Olympics is an illustrious one as well. Kinue Hitomi became the first Japanese and Asian woman to ever participate in the Olympics at the Amsterdam Games in 1928.

During the 5th IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, which was held in Los Angeles between February 16 and 18, members of the conference called for greater promotion of gender equality, as well as the increased presence of women in management and leadership roles. Japan believes it is strongly aligned with the IOC’s lofty aspirations, as shown in its 2008 Olympic squad, which had one of the highest women participation rates at 49.7%.

For more information, contact: pressoffice@tokyo2020.jp

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