Hakone Ekiden Relay Race Japanese New Year's Traditions Japanse Features Soceity and Customs

Another Unique New Year's Tradition in Japan

What do you usually do during the New Year's holidays, other than eating nice food and drinking great drinks at New Year's gatherings?  

Photo by Th G from Pixabay used under CC

Do you go to sacred places to pray for happiness as Japanese people do at Shinto shrines?  Or watch movies or TV with your loved ones?  Among these enjoyable activities, which Japanese people do during the holidays, is to watch a sort of marathon race among universities for the two consecutive mornings of January 2nd and 3rd, cheering for their favorite college team in person on the road or on TV. 

That sort of marathon race is called "Hakone Ekiden," or officially called "Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race.  It is NOT only one person running for 42.195 Kilometers, but it is comprised of 10 stages, namely 10 runners running for the total of 217.1 kilometers, with their college sash (i.e., their college name is on the sash) handed over from one runner to the next.  As you can easily calculate, each runner runs almost half of the full marathon (about 21.1 Kilometers on average!!)  Twenty universities from the Tokyo area compete each other for the championship.

Hakone Ekiden's very unique points include the geographical characteristics of the relay course and two mornings, not in a full day, of the 2nd and 3rd days of the New Year, when the relay is held every year. 

Very close to Atami City (introduced in our previous post 1 and post 2), Hakone is also located in the mountains.  It has a lot of ups and downs to go through these mountainous roads that running needs a lot of stamina.  Even for runners who practiced a lot to get used to the tough road, the running is NOT easy at all.

On the morning of January 2nd, 5 runners judged in a very best physical and mental condition are chosen and allowed to run from Tokyo to Hakone, which means they have to run upward.  Although the next day has another 5 runners from Hakone to Tokyo (almost the same route for the first day), the relay is timed from the first day run on.  How to assign these best 10 runners to each running stage could be a very key to the championship.

Here is a highlight video of two consecutive days of Hakone Ekiden, 2020.  

What makes Japanese people so excited about this relay race?  Not just a New Year's pastime tradition, but Hakone Ekiden gives them a great chance to praise young athletes' aspirations and efforts.  It also strongly inspires Japanese viewers themselves to achieve what they dream of with their own efforts.  Maybe it also functions as a New Year's Resolution for every viewer of excellent performance done by young college runners.

Japanese people value efforts a lot in achieving their goals.  We bet a lot of people have vowed to make their best to realize their dreams.  What about you?