With a view over a zen garden and sunrise to die for.
I ask for coffee. End up having one of the most expensive and lurid tasting drinks I had in a while. The coffee menu clearly there for tourists like me who ask for it, but with pricing set to gently discourage you from ordering any. Unfortunately, I miss the hint. A mistake I don't repeat again.
Let's talk about check-in. The runner's guide posted hours for the last day of a pickup was 10:30 am to 7 pm with a warning that last day is gonna be busy. I get there at 11 am. It's super packed. I had to bring my number card voucher. It could be reissued on site but it would cost extra.
The existence of this document makes little sense to me. Most US marathons require you to know your number when you do the pickup, you show your ID to confirm your name, and that's it. It's a one person job. In Japan, if a job can be done by one person it's going to be done by three. One person checks the ID with your number card. One person stamps your number card to confirm the ID was checked. One person collects the number card and gives you the running packet. The ID checking is definitely a bottleneck here. What the point is, I don't know. It's hard to imagine that anyone in Japan would even try to run as someone else, so the ID checking is mostly there for the show. Is this a way to involve more volunteers in the expo who otherwise would be left with nothing to do?
I noticed that the disease of adding unnecessary steps is spreading. At the border, they now pre-scan your passport and fingerprints, only to repeat the whole process at the counter with the immigration officer. It's madness. There must be a method to it but it escapes me.
I realize there is no free t-shirt. I find it odd, but then again none of the other t-shirts I had was really runnable. You get to buy one. I line up. They are all out of large sizes (you need to go up a size) across all styles. Something smells fishy.
There was a special t-shirt available for pre-purchase online:
It was hard to tell how it looked at that resolution. The only good one I have is from the Tokyo marathon, but even that one is a little too loud a weekend stroll in Vegas. Nevertheless, I locate the special one in a different part of the expo. It looks as if somebody went to town on it with a glitter gun. I hesitate and leave without one.
The expo food is great. The next two hours are spent sampling sake, desserts, fried chicken and octopus. I skip the ramen. For now.
There's even a tasting ceremony somewhere in between, but I get distracted by a mochi.
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