Day 1: Learning Curve

Tokyo, Japan: The meet has started! There were a few prelims this morning (and the race walks). These contests were watched on television in our room (while I stitched). Finishing before noon, we had hours before the evening session so went to the Meiji Jingu Shrine. The shrine truly is an oasis in the middle of Tokyo. A very dense forest with wide paths for access to the shrine. Built in 1920 to honor the Emperor and Empress as they were pivotal in pushing Japan forward in technology and into the world.

It must have been 1/3 of a mile from the outer gate to the shrine, but it was paved on the sides - but the forest/park portion of the shrine was very busy. The shrine is close to the athletics stadium, and with the morning session just ending, maybe a lot of the spectators decided to visit the shrine on their way back to their hotels? The dense tree cover seemed to lower the temperature several degrees, and it was an enjoyable stroll - though we had light sprinkles on and off.

Maybe I have misunderstood the translation, but it seems the Emperor was instrumental in making Japanese sake known to the world and helping the brewers make better products through science/technology. To this day, the thankful brewery associations bring a cask of their best sake to the shrine every year.

And after this courtyard, no photos are allowed as people are praying and and bowing to the gods... with security guards holding QUIET and NO PHOTOS signs. We exited, retracing our steps a bit.

We decided to visit Harajuku - a crazy combobulation of winding alleys filled with shops, stalls, restaurants, and 30 million people jammed into narrow passageways. I do not have claustrophobia, but if you do - do not go to Harajuku.

But... if you like pets, do go to Harajuku. It must be the epicenter of a phenomenon that is crazy popular in Japan: Cat Cafes. This business provides cats for you to pet while you have a slice of cake or a cup of tea. But why let the kitties have all the fun. You can also visit a dog/puppy cafe, a pigmy pig cafe, a hedgehog cafe, and a capybara cafe. And it seems "dog" is just too general, so why not a breed-specific cafe? We saw a Samoyed Cafe! (These are just the options we saw today in Harajuku - imagine what we didn't see?)

We took a detour down a narrow staircase promising food, and found ourselves in a hole-in-the-wall fried chicken and pork cutlet place. It was a blast, our food was very good and very cheap. Not sure what I ordered (no English menu and I remember little Japanese), but were delivered a platter of karaage chicken (same as last night), but smothered in mayonnaise. Whatever.

We had time for a little rest back in our hotel before heading over to the stadium for the first evening session. The first night is always exciting - and a bit of a learning curve. Finding our seats, figuring out how to get to the stadium on the subway, etc. By the time we were in the hotel lobby, the clouds had opened and we found a long line of empty taxis, so our subway app remains unused. There was a super long line to enter through our specified gate (D), but suddenly the line began flowing like water. They must have turned off the metal detectors? Stopped searching bags? Not sure, but we were in the stadium, our tickets were scanned, and we headed toward our seats.

We had purchased very good seats, near the finish line and in the third row... except when we reached our seats, we learned the third row was the very first row - there were no rows 1-2. National Stadium was the "2000" Olympic Stadium. It has a few odd features - one being the long/triple jump pits are on the outside of the track (generally, these events take place on the infield), but we could see everything - just from a bit more distance than at Historic Hayward Field. The only negative thing about this configuration is the athletes cannot greet their fans on their victory laps - they are so far away from the stands. We have excellent views of the shot put ring, and the media staff were really good about showing the events on the big screens, and posting live results. Announcements are in Japanese and English. Our views, left and right:

Yeah, it was a dark and stormy night. None of the rain reached our seats, but fans on the turn near the pole vault pit were donning ponchos. There were many (many) heats tonight, so it was a bit of a slog at times. The Oregon Ducks have 14 current or former athletes competing at the Championships in Tokyo, and five of them were in the (four) women's 1500m heats. What are the chances? Three of the women - Susan Lokayo Ejore (Kenya), Jessica Hull (Australia) and Klaudia Kazimierska (Poland) will move on to the semi-finals tomorrow. Duck Jorinde Van Klinken (Netherlands) qualified for the women's discus final Sunday.

Three finals tonight. The women's 10000m was fun as a Japanese women led for about the first 8 laps to tremendous cheering, then faded back... only to rally and finish 6th behind winner Beatrice Chebet (Kenya). I've never seen a crowd go so crazy for a 6th place finisher, but from the roar of the crowd, you would have thought Hironaka had won the race and maybe broken a world record or two? Goosebumps! A moment she can tell her grandchildren - I know I will tell mine and I was only watching. American Ryan Crouser won the gold medal in the men's shot put for the third time in a row. Crouser has been injured for a year, so this was a huge victory for the lovable Oregonian. The third final was the mixed 4x400m relay. Big shock: USA won. And, just in case you were worried - Mondo made it into the pole vault final Monday.

Of course, there is a mascot for the meet. Every meet has a mascot, and Riku One may be the cutest mascot since the sheep with twisted horns in Budapest. It is fashioned after a popular Japanese dog breed, the Shiba Inu, which I bet you can pet at a local pet cafe?

After the final event, fans were herded like cows towards the exits. We headed towards the subway station. It was 11p. But while following the herd, we saw a man holding up a sign reading SHUTTLE to our hotel. We know full-well this shuttle was most likely for the World Athletics staff and other people with credentials staying at our hotel, but we gave it a go and were ushered onto the bus like we belonged there. Ten minutes later were back to our hotel... only to find every single of the 40 bars and restaurants CLOSED. Who plans this stuff? The hotel is filled with people attending the championships. Most likely all the hotel restaurants were very empty tonight as most guests were at the meet. The meet ended around 10:30p. Maybe keep a few restaurants open?

No one asks me.

Pedometer: 11,441 steps

Until my next update, I remain, your hungry correspondent.

Links:
World Athletics Championships | Tokyo 2025
Meet Schedule
How to watch from the US
World Championships Results
Tokyo Weather

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