The first content is the shoes with a thick-soled controversy.
Thick-soled shoes became known in Japan as far back as the Boston Marathon in April 2017.
At that time, Suguru Osaka, running his first marathon, placed third in the Boston Marathon.
As a side note, Osaka achieved a 6th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics,
and I have the impression that he has been on his own path since his high school and college days in the track and field community.
In fact, those who enter universities in the Kanto region spend 4 years with the Hakone Ekiden as one of their goals.
But at that time, Osaka spent his days at Western University aiming for the world in track events such as the 5,000m and 10,000m.
By the way, his wife is from Fukui Prefecture, just like me.
Back to the Boston Marathon, it had been 30 years since Toshihiko Seko won the Boston Marathon,
and Osaka was wearing thick-soled Nike shoes.
At that time, when I saw the shoes, I thought,
Wow, Osaka is wearing Nike shoes.
I still have an impression of Osaka because he had been wearing Mizuno shoes until then.
The following year, in 2018, Toyo University actively wore thick-soled shoes and achieved good results in the Ekiden,
and gradually the university long-distance and industry athletes switched to Nike thick-soled shoes from ASICS and Mizuno,
which dominated the market share at the time.
In fact, Nike's share in the 2017 Hakone Ekiden was only 17.1%,
but since the introduction of thick-soled shoes, Nike's share has increased year by year,
and I noticed that 95% of the runners in the 2021 Hakone Ekiden were wearing Nike thick-soled shoes.
Since 21 teams participate in the Hakone Ekiden every year, with 10 runners from each university,
this means that more than 200 runners wore Nike shoes.
Wow, that is really amazing.
If I were in charge of shoe manufacturers other than Nike, I would have been drenched in cold sweat.
If they could not introduce their shoes at the Hakone Ekiden, the biggest PR event for shoe manufacturers,
they would not be known to junior high school and high school students, or even citizen runners.
It would be like throwing away billions of yen in advertising.
On the other hand, three years later, Nike unexpectedly lost its majority in this year's Hakone Ekiden,
while ASICS and Adidas recovered.
Nike had 98 runners for 42.6%,
ASICS had 57 runners for 24.8%,
and Adidas had 42 runners for 18.3%.
These three companies accounted for about 85% of the total.
After Puma came in 4th with 20 runners for 8.7%,
Mizuno came in 5th with 3,
On with 3,
Hoka with 2,
and New Balance,
Under Armour,
and Brooks with 1 runner.
While it was surprising to see Nike fall below the majority,
I have the impression that ASICS has recovered considerably.
ASICS released six-solid shoes in March 2021 in response to Nike's six-solid shoes.
Specifically, the company offers two types of shoes,
the Metaspeed Sky, which is designed for stride-type runners,
and the Metaspeed Edge, which is designed for pitch-type runners.
a closer look at the uniforms of each university shows the logos of sports manufacturers and sponsors.
First, let me talk about the former.
Looking at the logos of the schools participating in this year's Hakone Ekiden,
you can see that Mizuno, six schools,
Ose University, Soka University, Nihon Taiku Daigaku University,
Nichida University, Kanagawa University, and Kokushikan University
are six, four schools,
Waseda University, Teikyo University, Chuo Gakuin University, and Yamanashi Gakuin University.
Like five schools,
Kamazai University, Chuo University, Toyo University, Meiji University, and Tokai University.
Adidas, four schools,
Aoyama Gakuin University, Kokugakuin University, Daito University, and Tokyo Nogyo University.
Fuma, two schools,
Josei University and Bikkyo University.
New Balance, one school,
Juntendo Gakuin University,
On, one school,
Tsuruga Daidai University.
The manufacturers listed in the uniforms provide shoes and clothing to the runners,
and I have the impression that sports manufacturers have been cooperating with runner training in recent years.
For example,
Fuma has concluded partnership agreements with two schools,
Bikkyo University and Josei University,
and invites them to join the Fuma elite running team in the U.S. to gain valuable experience.
Nike has also arranged to overseas races and training camps,
including inviting Toyo University, its U.S. headquarters, to experience local road races.
Adidas also sends athletes from Kokugakuin and Aoyama Gakuin Universities to ultra-high-level races
sponsored by the company,
providing opportunities to run with world-class athletes.
This is my personal prediction,
but I have a feeling that about three of the universities currently under contract with Japanese makers
will change to some foreign manufacturers in a few years.
For the players and directors,
universities that have a large budget or offer overseas placement opportunities
are more likely to provide opportunities for growth.
Next, I'd like to talk about sponsored logos.
If you look closely at the uniforms of various universities,
you will see that some universities have sponsored logos on the right chest area.
Originally, the rules prohibited sponsored logos on uniforms,
but following the revision of advertising regulations
by the World Association of Athletic Federations,
the Japan Association of Athletic Federations adopted a new rule.
The same sponsored name was allowed to be placed in one place on the shirt
and one place on the pants,
with a logo within 40 square centimeters and 5 centimeters in height.
This one was lifted by Aoyama Gakuin University director, Mr. Hara.
Believe it or not,
this has an effect of several billion yen in terms of advertising costs.
Among the offers from various companies,
Aoyama Gakuin chose the government rather than a private company as Myoko City.
The reason for this is that since 2004,
when Mr. Hara took office,
he has visited the city every year at a training camp.
Myoko City is a perfect place for skiing,
with easy access from Tokyo and hot spring resorts in winter.
I hope I can help boost the city,said Mr. Hara.
Toyo University has the logo of Itoen's healthy mineral mugicha,
and Meiji University has Sato Foods' Sato no Gohan on its right breast,
on its right chest.