Why does Japan love the Honolulu Marathon?

Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon is expected to attract almost two thirds of the field from one country, eight hours away and halfway across the Pacific. spikesmag.com finds out more about Japan’s fascination with the annual race in Hawaii.

So where do you reckon the greatest destination marathon on earth is? New York? How about London? Chicago, maybe? No, think again.

The world’s No.1 destination marathon is the Honolulu Marathon, at least according to race president Jim Barahal. The annual 26.2-mile test in Hawaii has long proved a magnet for overseas athletes, most notably from Japan.

Last year’s race had a shade under 18,000 Japanese runners in a field of a little more than 27,000 athletes comprising 62.5% of the field.

But the burning question is why a race – which is some eight hours flight away from the Japanese mainland – proved so popular for the thousands of Japanese runners?

More than 16% of the inhabitants of the US state have Japanese ancestry and leading Japanese athletics journalist Ken Nakamura believes the strong historical connection should not be overlooked.

“Japanese people just love Hawaii,” said Nakamura. “It’s just like the Europeans love to go to Southern France or Southern Spain for the Japanese.” Barahal, however, argues other factors have played their part.

He believes that although the marathon has proved hugely popular for elite runners in Japan there has been little scope for mass participation entrants. The vast majority of marathons have a strict time limit on finishing and he believes Honolulu filled a gaping hole in the market.

“You had this large number of people who wanted to run a marathon and who were exposed to the marathon but had no opportunity to run a full marathon,” said Barahal. "Japanese tourism to the US had been developing through the 70s and 80s and companies like Japan Airlines laid the foundation and saw it as an opportunity to develop large scale recreational runners in the marathon.”

The first Japanese runner to race the Honolulu marathon came in 1976 but what started as a dribble became a flood and ten years later a little over a third of the 10,000-plus field were Japanese.

Today the event has a Japanese sponsor – Japanese Airlines – it is screened live on Japanese TV and the mile and kilometre markers throughout the race are written in Japanese.

It is also a logistical juggling act to fly in the required number of runners for the marathon. Many of the athletes fly in for a short four-day break with many leaving the day after the marathon, however, as Barahal insists, it has become a relatively smooth process.

“Fortunately, a system is in place with airlines and hotels to make it relatively easy to bring people over,” said Barahal. “A number of charter flights have been added, although it's pretty full and probably the busiest time of year in Hawaii.”

Barahal has also overseen a huge growth in the race since he started out as the elite athletics co-ordinator 23 years ago. It has now mushroomed into the biggest sporting event in Hawaii pouring $100m of direct money into the island – 95% of which is from the pockets of Japanese runners – it has been some story.

“We maintain, and I still think it’s true, that we are the greatest destination marathon in the world,” added Barahal. “London is primarily UK and European. Tokyo is almost 100% Japanese and New York is a huge destination marathon, primarily for Europe. Chicago is mainly US Mid-West and Boston is a huge destination marathon but not as big as our race.”

Perhaps, though, Nakamura best summed up the significance of the race to the Japanese people by adding: “It is fair to say, when people in Japan think of a marathon they think of Honolulu,” he added.