CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

over the marathon distance,
sometimes on the roads and
sometimes cross-country,
comprising legs of different
lengths to suit different runners.
Team members pass between
them not a baton, but rather a
sash called the tasuki, with the
goal not only of covering the
distance in the shortest time but
also of achieving wa or “group
harmony”. The most significant
event on the calendar is the
217km, 10-leg Hakone Ekiden,
which – despite featuring teams
from universities in just one
region of Japan and involving
eleven hours of action broadcast
over two days – attracts TV
audiences of around 50 million
people, brings tens of thousands
more out onto the streets to
spectate, and turns its most
successful competitors into huge
stars. In other words, it was
about as different as possible
from my previous understanding
of what distance running was
while still being recognisably
the same sport. And until
Adharanand Finn published his
excellent book almost no one
outside Japan had ever heard
of it.
To be clear, however, neither
this nor anything else in this
review is intended to imply
that the Japanese are any more
or less odd than we in the
west. After all, our version of
distance running typically finds
room within the same event for
both world-class athletes and
someone’s dad shuffling round
dressed as a comedy scrotum.
But what is true is that if you
want to learn anything about
Japan you need to find a guide
who knows their way around
the country, the language
and the culture. In this case it
would have to be someone who
understood the sport too. I
advised James accordingly.
I am a middle-aged man with
a family, so I am unused to
having my opinion sought on
any subject and certainly have
no experience of having my
advice followed. So, I was rather
concerned when James listened
to what I said and went off to
look for someone meeting this
description.
I need not have worried. In
Justin McCurry, James hit the
bullseye. McCurry is (among
other things) the Guardian’s
correspondent in Japan and
South Korea. He has a master’s
degree in Japanese Studies from
SOAS and has lived in Tokyo
since 1991. He’s a committed
keirin enthusiast. And now,
thanks to Pursuit Books (and,
arguably, me), his excellent
new book War on Wheels
headbutts its way into the
gap James had identified, and
sprints confidently away from
all previous English-language
accounts of keirin (including
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