June 22, 1983, Wednesday
Before I started my run this morning, I met with the Mayor of Munakata City at City Hall and talked a bit with some reporters. The run started at 10:10am to cover 35km to the city of Kitakyushu. This is the town where marathon runner Kenji Kimihara, Japan's Olympic Silver Medallist lives. He won the medal running at high altitude in Mexico City in 1968, soon after Kokichi Tsuburaya had committed suicide.
The story of Tsuburaya is a sad one. He was running in 2nd place as he entered Tokyo's Olympic stadium in the 1964 Olympic Games, but was passed up by Basil Heatley on the home stretch. Still, he won the Bronze medal and was a favorite to come back in the next Olympic Games to take the gold. Tsuburaya was a runner in Japan's Self-Defense Force and was training very hard to represent Japan in Mexico City. Eventually, partially due to pressure from the public, and injuries sustained from hard training, he took his life. He just wrote in his diary after thanking his family and friends for their support, "I just can't run anymore." Such is the kind of pressure that weighs heavily on the shoulders of runners representing a marathon-loving nation.
I took it nice and easy on the run today, holding back some energy in reserve. Mr. Shichida of Kitakyushu ran with me most of the way. I'm staying in a hotel on top of Hirosaki Mountain. The view is fantastic (See photo.)
Mr. Kanzo Ito traveled all the way from Tokyo to see me and to work on a revised schedule for the rest of the run. I really hope to stick with it. Tomorrow I will be leaving Kyushu. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere.
1 comment:
Indeed, a very sad story. I heard that Japanese people are very competitive. Is it true that students who study very hard to make it into universities commit suicide if they are not accepted?
If so, what a stressful life, as in the life of the man you posted.
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