For ALTs: The quick and easy guide to signing up for Marathon's and other races in Gunma and Japan

For ALTs: The quick and easy guide to signing up for Marathon’s and other races in Gunma and Japan

Any ALT, or non-ALT foreigner in Japan should try to enter at least one race.

With many opportunities to run distances from 3k to a full marathon in Japan,

it’s foolish to not enter at least one race. But how do you do it? After reading this,

you should be able to register for practically any Japanese race through runnet.jp

What’s runnet.jp?

Runnet.jp is a running megasite. It’s the Japanese arm of runnersworld.com,

possibly the most popular running magazine in the world. Aside from many

other features, runnet.jp has a database of all the major races in Japan. In

addition, it allows you to register for these races lightning fast.

Why runnet.jp?

From what I’ve seen so far, runnet.jp is the fastest and simplest way to

Marathon, then you probably don’t need this. However, there are many

cool marathons going on in Gunma that you can participate in very soon.

So why not sign up?

How do I sign up?

I’ll break this down into three steps.

Step 1 - Signing up with runnet.jp

Step 2 - Looking up races with runnet.jp

Step 3 - Paying for races with runnet.jp

I highly reccommend that you use Mozilla Firefox (http://www.firefox.com), and

Rikaichan (http://rikaichan.mozdev.org/) with runnet.jp.

STEP 1: REGISTERING WITH RUNNET.JP

Go to https://runnet.jp/member/regist/index.html

Scroll down and click on the big red button.

Next, you should be on this screen. This is just the legal information

screen (terms of use, etc.) Click the right radio button, and then

scroll down and click the big red button.

Next, enter your computer e-mail twice, and click the red button.

You’ll get a confirmation screen. Click the red button again.

You should see a screen that says that they got your e-mail, and

they will send you a confirmation e-mail in 30 minutes.

So… Check you e-mail! You should get an e-mail from “new”, with

the text title “RUNNET” and a lot of Japanese kanji!

Follow the link, and you should be at the registration screen!

The first bar is where you put your user ID (btw. 2 - 10 characters)

Second bar is where you put your password (btw. 6- 10 characters)

(pick something new, as it shows your password.)

Scroll down, and you get to the more difficult part

The first bar is a nickname. Something simple, up to 12 characters (so one word

is preferrable).

The second bar is more difficult. You have to put your name in Japanese (try to

put it in English, and get greeted by a wonderful error screen). To achieve this,

in Internet Explorer, get Japanese Language Support, and pick Japanese when

your in the bar. Since you don’t have a name in Kanji, select Full-width Katakana.

Then type your name as it appears on your alien registration card. Copy what

you typed in into the name field below.

Next bar is birthdate.

Next bar is gender. Left option is man, Right is woman.

Next is your postal code.

Next is your prefecture (10th option).

Next is your city/ku and town or village. (Switch to hiragana for this.)

Next is your ban-chi. It’s right after your address on your alien card. Usually it’s

a couple of numbers, or three numbers, then the 番 character, and another number.

Just insert the numbers and then a dash where the kanji is, and continue with the

last number(s).

Next is your apartment/mansion name and number.

Last is your name. Use katakana just to play it safe.

Next is your home telephone.

Skip the next 5 (only useful if you’re in a track and field club).

The next option is how you want to recieve any mail from RUNNET. The current option is fine.

The next field is if you want to subscribe to anything. I would suggest you only

pick something you really want, because they will e-mail you a lot!

The next field will send you a user ID and password reminder. Keep it as it is.

Now that we’re done with the really difficult part. Click next and move on.

NOTE: runnet.jp is kinda wonky, and even if you do everything right, you might get

an error message. Just double check everything, and try again. If it still doesn’t

work, leave a comment.

If all is well, you will get a confirmation e-mail with your user ID and password.

Now, you can lookup and register for races!

STEP 2: LOOKING UP RACES

First, go to the main page (http://www.runnet.jp), and login!

On the main page, there is a search bar for races. Let’s look for races in April.

Select the month in the first pull down, and Gunma-ken in the second pull down,

and click search (you don’t need a specific race name).

Here, we can see only one race in Gunma-ken in April registered with runnet.jp.

This race is pretty popular, though. The Maebashi City Marathon! Let’s click on it!

April, 25, 2010.

The next page shows the entry date, etc. Click on the blue button that says エントリー.

Scroll down on the next screen to enter. Here, you can see the limits, etc.

Apparently if your a woman who wanted to enter the race, or over 35 years old, it’s too late.

This seems like nonsense to me, and can probably be alleviated through more complicated

means (calling up the organizers). But, the top option, Men ages 19-35 looks good! Let’s

click on the smaller entry button, and get to the next fun part!

STEP 3: PAYING FOR RACES

Runnet.jp makes paying for races very easy. You can go to a 7-11, FamilyMart,

LAWSON’S, etc. to pay for your race ticket. Here’s how you do it!

(This step follows directly after the step before (clicking the entry button for your

age group in the race of your choice))

I: Specific Details

I’ll be participating in the Maebashi City Marathon, so let’s use me as a guinea pig!

After clicking on the entry screen, you’ll see some confirmation stuff. Just scroll down.

The first box is confirming that if you want a refund, you’ll have to pay a handling fee.

If you belong to a running club, you can fill in the next option.

The next option asks for the phone number of your place of employment, or school.

Since it’s not necessary and none of their business, you can leave that blank as well.

The next option is necessary, and asks you your means of transport. The top option

is public transportation. The middle option is by your own car. The last option is other

means (magic carpet, teleportation, friend giving you a ride?, etc.)

The next option is for people with vision problems. If you have a seeing-eye partner,

put their name there… I get the feeling different races have different options, so make

sure you’re using rikaichan.

The last option is T-Shirt size. This is important! Good running shirts are overpriced

(especially in already overpriced Japan). Most races give you a good running shirt

that would cost 50-60% the price of entry at the cheapest.

The last option is another confirmation/legal screen. Just click the left button and click

the big blue button on the right to continue!

II: Method of Payment

Scroll down again to get to payment options. If you have a Japanese credit card, use it!

Actually, foreign credit cards might work. I haven’t tried it, though. Can someone confirm

this.

The other options are using convinience stores to purchase your tickets. Since the

surcharge is the same, I’m going this route. I’m going to select 7-Eleven. So, I’ll click the

button there, and move on to the next step.

III: Explanation of how to pay

No need for a screen here. It’s just saying that you’re going to get a long, convoluted

number in your e-mail. You’ll use this number to purchase your individualized ticket.

IV: Confirmation

Just a confirmation page, and a last chance to change any details. You’ll also get a point.

Not sure how much they’re worth. Hopefully not 1 yen a piece.

Click on the blue button, and you’ll get a confirmation popup. Just click the OK option to

move on.

V: Your special number!

You’ll get a really long number! Write it down, or access it at the convinience store with

your cell phone (through your confirmation e-mail)!

You can put the number in a ticket machine, or just walk up to the clerk and give them your number. You can also say this below if you run into problems.

“Marason no kippu wo haraitai. Kore wa watashi no marason no kippu no ban.”

(while pointing to your number)

It’s probably not the prettiest Japanese, but it gets the job done.

Make sure you hold onto that small piece of paper! You’ll need to show it at the marathon to get yourself set up. If you use a ticket machine, you should get a bigger ticket, however.

Have fun running!

LIST OF UPCOMING MARATHONS IN GUNMA

February 14

The Tatebayashi Marathon and Kiryu Marathon

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by pounding the crap out of your heart!

There are two marathons going on the same day, and it’s way too late to register for any

of them!

March

Takasaki City Haruna Ume Marathon

It’s too late to sign up for this one, also.

April

April 25

Maebashi City Marathon (http://www.maebashicitymarathon.jp/)

This takes place on the weekend before Golden Week, and it looks like a big race.

The shortest distance is around a 3K, and the longest distance is a half-marathon.

May

May 9

The Annaka Samurai Marathon (http://www.city.annaka.gunma.jp/news/tooashi.html)

The Annaka Samurai Marathon is a fun costume marathon that takes place on May 9th

(the weekend after Golden Week!). You can start signing up for it on 2/15. I’ve heard that

the race fills up fast, so it’s a good idea to register early. I’ve also heard that it goes

continuosly uphill, so have fun with that!

Direct Runnet link — (https://runnet.jp/runtes/raceDetail/top/m12430.html)

These are all the marathons I could find through runnet. They only update them a couple months at a time. If you’re fixing for more races, you can look up nearby prefectures (Tochigi, Iwate, Nagano, etc.).

This website has many marathon listings, but it’s in Japanese. (http://yaboow.blog63.fc2.com/blog-category-1.html)

I could translate some of it if there’s demand.