Country vs. City

June 21, 1983, Tuesday

I woke up to the sound of rain, pounding on the rooftop this morning at 5:30. I went right back to sleep. I eventually crawled out of bed and started my run from the train station at 9:50am. The rain had stopped by this time, and I was able to run under cloudy conditions--perfect for running.

The distance covered today was 50km to the town of Togo. Unfortunately, I had to run through the city of Fukuoka so I had to deal with heavy traffic at some points. The exhaust from cars, trucks and buses was just too much. I was so happy to reach the outskirts of the city. Urban running is just not my thing. I prefer the open country roads, cruising by the farming communities that are fast disappearing from the countryside. I'll put up with the snakes. They are not as dangerous as the cars and bicycles in the cities.

One good thing about running in Japan is the abundance of drink vending machines. As long as you have a 100 yen coin, you are never going to die of thirst. You can be in the middle of nowhere and see one or two vending machines in the corner somewhere, waiting to quench your thirst. Some even have a roulette-like game with a light flickering around a circle. If you select your drink with the right timing, the flickering light may land on the "winner" segment and you will be treated to another canned drink. Sodas, vitamin drinks, coffee, tea--you name it, the machine has it.

At around 4:00pm, I reached Munakata City and called it a day. I met up with Mr. Kawano, of the Munakata Running Club, and got a ride to his house for the night. The hot bath was very relaxing.

Note: Urban running has become even more of a dangerous activity since 1983. When I was running in Tokyo last year, a bicycle in the dangerous hands of a middle-aged housewife rammed into me. I was on a sidewalk, too, running at a leisurely pace. I was OK, and the lady apologized, but I’ve learned to be extra careful. Nowadays, you also have young kids staring at their keitai cell phones while they act like they are watching the road. You are supposed to know that the keitai is a universal license to be rude, so you'd better get out of the way. Although it is against the law to do so, you also have young adults riding bicycles with an umbrella in one hand and a keitai in the other while riding on the crowded, narrow sidewalks. Both eyes are on the keitai, of course, because they are all brain surgeons by profession and have some very important messages coming through. Right! If you are running on the sidewalks, especially in the suburbs of Tokyo--watch out!