青山学院大学の優勝理由
Audio Japan 〜Learning Japan with You〜. This podcast is to dive into Japanese culture, trends, and so on.
Through Audio Japan, I aim to make you like Japan more, help you chat with people in your daily life, have business meetings, and communicate smoothly with people from other countries.
If you want to listen to the program in Japanese, go to the podcast, Audio Japan 〜Learning Japan with You〜.
The audio is available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and so on.
My name is Taiki Arai, and I am an educational designer.
Six or seven days have passed since the year 2024 began.
Early in the new year, a major earthquake hit in Ishikawa Prefecture.
There and a jet plane collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane at Haneda Airport, causing the aircraft to burst into flames, giving me a creepy feeling.
As I thought two years ago when the Fukushima earthquake hit, I am now feeling grateful for the fact that peaceful everyday life is not something we can take for granted.
Before getting into the main topic, let me briefly introduce myself.
Again, my name is Taiki Arai.
I am a person who is happy to think about a single thing from multiple perspectives or when a new spark of inspiration occurs to me.
For example, when I am researching something, I search for examples from other countries for comparison.
Also, when I am served by a foreigner in my daily life, I tend to ask,
Where are you from? What inspired you to come to Japan?
The other day, I was able to talk with a Nepalese national for the first time.
I have never studied abroad for a long period of time, but I have taught English and essay writing at a cram school in the past, so I don't have any barriers to English so far.
In terms of my personality, I am not the type to talk on my own, and only recently have I realized that I am a shy person.
I like sports in general, especially running, basketball, and volleyball.
When it comes to spectating, I really like baseball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and Ekiden, etc.
My hobbies are running, working out at the gym, reading, and listening to audio content.
I'd like to make the year to continue what I have been drawing in my mind for the past five to seven years,
or what I have drawn and tried but stopped halfway through until the end.
This Audio Japan is one of those things.
Okay, let's go to the main question.
Did you watch the Hakone Ekiden on January 2nd and 3rd?
According to previous reports, Komodo University winner of this year's Izumo Ekiden and All Japan University Ekiden was expected to win.
However,
When the race started,
Aoyama Gakuin University won the outward and return races, as well as the complete race.
Incidentally, both the outward time and the overall time were new in the competition.
When I saw the results, I thought that the time was too fast, I thought.
I had hoped that Aoyama Gakuin would win, but I was surprised because I thought Komodo would win.
I realized again that it is not the team with the fastest athletes that wins, but the team that has peaked was Hakone Ekiden that wins.
青山学院大学の優勝理由
This time, after explaining the outline of the Hakone Ekiden, I'd like to talk about why Aoyama Gakuin University won the overall championship for the seventh time.
Let's get started.
Okay, let me begin.
The Hakone Ekiden is one of the New Year's traditions and is called one of the three major student relay races along with the Izumo Ekiden and the All Japan University Ekiden.
The race is held over two days on January 2nd and 3rd, and consists of five sections, covering 107.0 km on the outward lake and 109.6 km on the return lake.
The total is 217.5 km between the Yomiuri Shimbun in Tokyo and Lake Ashinoko in Hakone, with the overall time for the ten sections being the deciding factor.
The nearest station to the Yomiuri Shimbun in Tokyo is Otemachi Station, which is surrounded by an office district.
So, while there are usually a lot of office workers, I always think that,
during this period, I see a different scenario.
Also, some people may recognize that Hakone is located in Tokyo, but it is actually in Kanagawa Prefecture.
By the way, until I was in junior high school, I thought Hakone was in Tokyo.
Another thing I was mistaken about is that only universities in the Kanto region participate in this event.
This Hakone Ekiden is broadcast nationwide during the New Year's holidays and gets over 20% viewership for two days.
But in fact, the fastest university in the Kanto region is decided.
Therefore, the fastest university in Japan is decided at the All Japan University Ekiden held in November.
It's not quite comical, but it's kind of strange, isn't it?
Usually, only about 20 universities are eligible to participate in the Hakone Ekiden.
The top 10 universities in the previous year's race and the top 10 universities in the preliminary round of the Hakone Ekiden held in October every year,
plus the Kanto Gakuren select a group of universities that have the fastest individual times among those that did not make it through the preliminary round.
For the commemorative event,
in addition to the university just mentioned, two additional universities are eligible to participate.
Incidentally, the Kanto Gakuren team was abolished this year,
and the teams that placed within 13th in the preliminary round are allowed to participate.
In fact, the pros and cons of the Kanto Gakuren team is one of the topics of discussion in the Ekiden community,
but I will talk about in the next issue.
To return to the main topic,
the founder is Mr. Shiso Kanakuri,
who aims to train runners who can complete on a world-class level.
As a student, Mr. Kanakuri participated in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics as a member of the marathon team,
but abandoned the race midway through.
He felt the gap between himself and the rest of the world.
In 1917,
he organized the Tokaido Ekiden Walking Race 2,
which commemorated the fifth anniversary of the transfer of the capital to Tokyo,
which became the predecessor of the Hakone Ekiden.
This was Japan's first Ekiden relay race,
covering 516 km between Kyoto and Tokyo,
with 23 sections held over three days.
At that time,
the race was held between East and West,
and the race was a great success,
becoming the prototype for the Hakone Ekiden.
It is quite a powerful predecessor.
It must be tough for the runners to run the race,
but it also seems to require a lot of energy
from the people cheering them on and running the race.
After the 1917 Ekiden was completed,
Mr. Kanakuri called on each university to participate,
and on February 14th, 1920,
the fourth school was completed.
The schools of Waseda University,
K-University,
Meiji University,
and Tokyo Koshi,
now it is called Tsukuba University,
held the four great Ekiden.
This was the first Hakone Ekiden.
Those with keen intuition may have thought,
Oh,you may be thinking,
What is that?
Well,the first race was held in 1920.
The 100th race is being broadcast in 2024.
In fact,
During the period around World War II,
the Tokaido and Hakone roads were used to transport military supplies,
and permission to use the roads was not granted.
So,the event was canceled a total of five times.
Okay,next.
青山学院大学の成績
Why did Aoyama Gaku University win?
Well,Aoyama Gaku University was ranked high
in the three major Ekiden races this year,
5th in the Izumo Ekiden,
and 2nd in the All Japan University Ekiden.
The results of the past few years
and comparisons with other universities
gave the impression that the momentum was weak.
Rather,Komazawa University,
which has won two championships,
Josa University,Juryo University,
and Kokugaku University,
which have advanced to the top schools,
have more momentum and will win the Hakone Ekiden.
That was my impression.
In fact,
when I listened to news reports and interviews
after the Hakone Ekiden,
I found that Aoyama Gaku University
had a full epidemic in early December,
and five of the runners who ran in the race had the full.
Moreover,Sato,who ran the fourth section,
later developed an appendectomy.
Mr.Hara even said,
We may not even get the seeding right
from the beginning of December to the middle of December.
Even so,I think that the Aoyama method
that he has accumulated through his 20 years of coaching,
as well as his IFA players,
were successfully combined to win the championship.
In addition,I also felt that the race development
was also good in terms of the results.
I'd like to take a look back at how
the Aoyama Gakuin runners ran in their respective sections,
with some digressions in between.
Aromaki,who ran in the first section,
kept up the high pace from the beginning of the race,
and even though he broke away from the leader
in the middle of the race,
he was still 30 to 40 seconds ahead of the leader.
He said,
I was frustrated because I was not ranked well in the section
and could not pass the sash within 20 seconds of the leader,
but I think he may have boosted me
the morale of the team by keeping up with the high pace.
I think he played his role well enough.
Kuroda,who is in the second section,
has been doing very well in the Ekiden this season,
and his performance in the Hakone Ekiden
was a perfect embodiment of his momentum.
It may be a kind of talent to be able to show
120% of his ability on the big stage,
and I thought he was like a Ekiden otoko.
Incidentally,Kuroda's family
is a family of track and field athletes.
His father is a three-time Hakone Ekiden participant
and a famous athlete who organized the Orange Express
with Tsurugadai University's Kazuyoshi Tokumoto,44,as coach.
His younger brother will enter Aoyama Gakuin University this spring.
His sister was the anchor
at the National Junior High School Ekiden last December
and cut the goal line.
Kuroda,who is in the third section,
has made a comeback in the last three kilometers
and passed the sash to the first runner.
I was also watching the race on TVAR,
and I was really moved at the moment
he closed the sash at the front of the race.
In the interview for the sectional award,
he said,
It was beautiful when he overtook Kumazawa
in the last three kilometers and was running in the lead,
which I thought was very impressive.
I thought it was a wonderful choice of words.
Kumazawa University stopped passing the sash
at the front of the race after 23 sections,
which had been continuing since last year's Hakone Ekiden.
I felt that Sato in the fourth section knew
how to run an Ekiden.
At the relay point,
he was only four seconds ahead of Kumazawa,
but by the time he passed the one kilometer mark,
he had opened up a gap of nearly 20 seconds over Kumazawa.
One of the common features of the University Ekiden
is that the advantage of running at the frontal is immiscible.
A truck-sized TV broadcasting truck
was running in front of the runner,
so he could use it as a wind shelter
第1章：青山学院大学の強さ
and run with a larger percentage of the TV coverage.
Wakabayashi,who ran in the fifth section,
was absent from the last race due to illness.
He cut the goal tape with a new section record.
On the return route,Nomura,in the sixth section,
had been preparing for the downhill race for about a year,
and he showed no signs of weakness.
At this point,
he was more than three minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
In the seventh section,Yamauchi,
who has been running constantly
since the beginning of this year,
was third in the section and connected the line without any problems.
He is originally a speed runner,
but I guess that he has been able to handle longer distances
because of his steady practice since he joined Aoyama Gakuin.
The eighth section was changed from Tanaka,
who ran the last race,
to Shiode,who ran the eighth section on the day of the race.
When I saw the change,I wondered if he would make it.
However,he was able to win the sectional prize
and widened the gap between himself and the rest of the runner.
Kuramoto,in the ninth section,
was making his first appearance in a student Ekiden.
Like Yamauchi,this was his first and last Hakone Ekiden race.
He won the sectional prize with his leisurely run.
Incidentally,when I wondered
why Kuramoto was assigned to the ninth section,
the eighth section of the return leg,
I guessed that he was chosen
because he finished third on the team
at the March Inter-Collegiate Championships in November.
Last,Udagawa,in the tenth section,
is a speed runner and was selected as a factor in winning the race
when it came to the championship.
In the anchor race,
he ran without any problem and cut the goal tape.
第3章：原監督の思い
In listening to an interview with Mr.Hara,
there was one thing that left a strong impression on me.
Mr.Hara said,
Through the Hakone Ekiden,
I want to nurture students from being self-reliant and self-supporting
to self-disciplined individuals
who can work and contribute to an organization
after they work at their company.
When you delve into each university,
you will find that the team colors are completely different.
For example,
some universities,like Oyama Gakuin,
are preparing their athletes for the Hakone Ekiden,
while others,like Komazuda University,
are improving their track times in the 5,000m and 10,000m
to develop runners who can compete globally.
And as an extension of that,
they are competing in the Ekiden.
Despite the differences in color,
even as a layman,
I thought that Mr.Hara was a mau character.
I felt that this was because of his background
that he had cultivated as a company employee
and the knowledge he gained from his 20 years
as a coach of Oyama Gakuin.
Audio Japan. Learning Japan with you.
It is now time for the ending.
I wrote an article titled
Before the Dawn of Hara's Supervision
in my note,
so if you are interested in listening to this episode,
please read it.
You can check it out from the summary section.
Also,
as I mentioned at the beginning,
if you would like to listen to Audio Japan.
Learning Japan with you in Japanese,
please listen to it from Audio Japan.
あなたと一緒に日本を学ぶ。
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I also welcome your comments and letters about the episode.
Please fill out the survey form in the overview section.
I look forward to hearing from you.
If you like this broadcast,
please subscribe and follow my channel.
Thank you for listening to the end.
My name is Taiki Arai.
Thank you.
