I landed last night and arrived at the Toyoko Inn by midnight. I just had enough consciousness to check in, take my baggage up and plop down on the bed. The next day I awoke to a sunny Sunday. A Sunday that happens to coincide with the 2016 Tokyo Marathon. Im not a running enthusiast, hence the coincidence, but I thought I'd take a look since I was here.
As I came down to the lobby to grab a bit of breakfast, there were some guests wearing numbered tags. Im assuming they were headed to Shinjuku where the marathon would start around 9am.
Leaving the hotel, I noticed some scaffolding across the street. And, to my horror, Shinatatsu was being renovated!!!!! This meant that I would not have handy access to some ramen or tsukemen that I am fond of. I guess they are working on the underside of the tracks or around Shinagawa station was the Wing Takanawa was closed last year when I visited.
I got over the shock and walked up the block. On the overpass, you can see the part of the course where the runners would make a U-turn at the 15 kilometer point.
Now it would be exciting and quite joyous for the locals if this were the lead group. Unfortunatley, it is not. This is a pic of the chase group. I got the lead group on film and it consisted of, Im assuming, Kenyans.
A way I could tell the initial runners were coming, aside from the cheers, the whirling chopper blades preceeded them. A news helicopter was providing aerial coverage and as soon as the leaders had raced away, so did the copter
I was not going to stick around for the rest of the runners. I am assured that there are costumed racers like those in the Bay to Breakers. Anyway, I went to the B1f of the Wing Takanawa and found this in the grocery area. These are candy kits made Kracie Foods. The kits like you mix, extrude, mold, and shape various ingredients into different foods like sushi, pizza, hamburgers, etc.
Nearby, bags of ramen with animal faces were staring out to me. they have the names of zoos on them. Ueno has a panda and I guess Sapporo has a polar bear. The prices for items here are much better than any of the conbinis you will find in the area. I got my drink and left for Akihabara
