problems

Hello. Today, I talk about problems of ekiden. For example, unbalance between ekiden and track race is. Why is it a problem? I am going to explain it. There are others problems. Ekiden is not popular all over the world. I think it is a problem too. Ekiden has a lot of problems more than marathon. Ekiden is similar to marathon because both of them are long distance race. But marathon is more popular than ekiden. What should Japanese do? I talk about it later.

              I talk about ekiden in Japan before I talk about unbalance between ekiden and track race. Ekiden is popular sport in Japan. I think almost Japanese have been to watch it on TV. And Hakone ekiden is the most popular among them. Some people go to see ekiden in person. I have been to go to see ekiden. This popularity causes an unbalance between ekiden and track race. I explain it in case of university. If university wins the championship in ekiden competition, we feel good image to university. A lot of people see the competition. So, university makes use of the competition to advertise their university. For example, when Toyo University wins the championship in Hakone ekiden for the first time, people who want to enter Toyo University increased. Ekiden is   a good way to advertise their university to the university’s president. So, he wants to be active in ekiden competition. And few track races were televised but almost ekidens were televised. By the way, why is it problem? Because track race is main event of track and field. Ekiden is a part of track and field. And people usually run 20 kilometers in university ekiden competition. But people run 5 kilometers or 10 kilometers in track race. So, a way of practice is different. People who run ekiden mainly cannot run 5 kilometers or 10 kilometers well. And some people don’t run track race because ekiden is more important than track race. It is good in Japan, but it is bad in the world. I think Japanese cannot win long distance race in Olympic at this rate.

              Next, I talk about what Japanese should do to know ekiden all over the world people. First, Japanese should tell what ekiden is. Ekiden is a kind of relay. All over the world people like relay for example 400 meters relay. I think all over the world people surely like ekiden. And international ekiden held in Japan. But few countries take part in it. I think Japan should invite a lot of countries to it. Second, Japanese play active part in track race held in various countries for example Olympic. Now, Japanese cannot advance to the final. It is hard for Japanese to win the championship because African is very fast. But I think Japanese can advance to the final. I want Japanese to run faster. And I want all over the world people to say “Japanese run fast because of ekiden.”