Tokyo is the flat, fast Major nobody warns you is brutal to get into: the general lottery runs near a 1-in-10 chance, so plan on striking out for years. The $230 overseas fee plus flights from anywhere stings, and signage and aid stations skew heavily Japanese if you read none. Early March sits around 4 to 12 degrees, cold at the start, ideal once you move. About 38,000 finish.
Better info coming — we're still verifying 4 fields on this race.
Why we'd pick it
- Flat and fast: 60 m of total climb, so it's a genuine PR course.
- It's a lottery. Enter the day it opens, not the week before.
- A non-racing partner gets a real weekend here — 5/5.
- Race day usually sits 4–12°C, about 25% chance of rain.
The course
Flat and fast, with a net-downhill first half from Shinjuku and the only real bumps coming on the bridges near the bay. The finish sits by Tokyo Station, and the crowds are deep the whole way.
