Marathon event makes comeback in quake-hit Noto Peninsula, central Japan
A marathon event was held in Suzu City in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, for the first time in six years.
Participants ran through the city where damage from the January 2024 quake can still be seen.
Sunday's 35-kilometer race attracted 114 people from across the country. The course's turning point was the Rokkosaki lighthouse on the tip of the Noto Penninsula.
The annual "Noto Peninsula Suzu Ultramarathon" was first held in 2012, but stopped in 2019 because organizing members were aging. Some residents responded to calls for reviving the event with the hope that it would help spread awareness about the quake-stricken areas' current situation.
The organizers restricted the number of participants and kept the distance to 35 kilometers due to limited local accommodation facilities and poor road conditions.
A 51-year-old participant from Kaga City in Ishikawa Prefecture said the weather was hot but he was encouraged by the people who came to cheer the runners along the route.
He said he saw cracked roads and collapsed buildings, but he could feel that recovery efforts were underway when he saw buildings under construction. He added that he wants to come again.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
BayStars' Trevor Bauer dejected and searching for answers as slump continues
Trevor Bauer has lost his way. Shortly after allowing five runs in a loss to the Yomiuri Giants on Saturday, Bauer leaned against a wall at Tokyo Dome with an unfocused gaze and slumped shoulders. When he tried to make sense of what happened on the field earlier, he could not always find the words, speaking quietly and deliberately, his usual self-assurance masked by the dejection that rolled off him in waves. Bauer is mired in a slump with three rough outings in his last four games for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. He has lost four straight decisions and allowed 19 runs in his last 20⅓ innings. The thing that hits him hardest, though, is that he can't figure out why. 'It's a mixture of frustration and depression,' Bauer said. 'Everything I've tried has been unsuccessful. So I don't know. I have five elite pitches. When I throw them in the zone, they hit like .400 on balls in play. I lead the Central League in strikeouts, but I've given up the most hits and the most runs. I don't know how to rationalize those two things. 'I have elite swing-and-miss stuff, but every time I throw it in the zone, it gets hit. I try to throw more on the edges, I don't get swings out of the zone, and I walk a lot of people. So then, as the game goes along, I try to throw more pitches in the zone, so I don't walk people, and then everything is a hit.' 'I don't know what else to ... I'm completely lost, to be honest.' Bauer (4-7) allowed seven hits in 5⅓ innings against the Giants. He struck out five and walked six. 'There's a couple of them that I definitely just lost command of the zone,' he said of the walks, four of which came in the first two innings. 'A lot of them, I was trying to be on the edges of the zone. When I get too much of the plate, I give up a lot of hits, so I was trying to be on the edges. They did a good job of laying off some close pitches. 'I thought my command actually got better as the game went along. Incidentally, I ended up giving up a lot more hits and a lot more runs as the game went along too.' Bauer gave up a two-run double to Yoshihiro Maru that opened the scoring in the fourth and a one-out three-run triple by Louis Okoye in the sixth. 'When he hit it, I thought, 'Oh, it's a routine double play ball,'' Bauer said of Okoye's hit up the middle. 'I thought I was out of the inning. Somehow it was a triple." Bauer's ERA rose to 4.13 and is the highest among qualified pitchers in NPB. His outing on Saturday came on the heels of a disastrous start against the Chiba Lotte Marines in which he allowed seven runs in one inning on June 22. BayStars pitching coach Shinji Ohara said after the game that he is not sure when Bauer will make his next start. On Sunday, the BayStars removed the right-hander from the active roster. He will be eligible to return in 10 days. Bauer said he felt good physically and that his mechanics felt normal. He said he had good communication with catcher Hikaru Ito, who he had not worked with this season, after his bullpen earlier in the week. When he left the game after Okoye's triple, television cameras caught him having a brief, but animated exchange with Ohara. Bauer declined to go into specifics, saying it was 'personal.' Bauer's second season in Japan is not going as well as the first when he was 10-4 with a 2.76 ERA for the BayStars in 2023. He pitched in the Mexican League in 2024. He has been hoping for a return to MLB but has remained on the outside since facing four allegations of sexual assault from 2021 to 2024. Bauer was never arrested or charged. Bauer, whose last appearance in the majors was in 2021, was suspended by MLB, ultimately serving a 194-game suspension (reduced from 324 games by an independent arbitrator) before being reinstated in December 2022. As a baseball player, Bauer says he is depressed, something he has not felt before. 'As far as baseball goes, no,' he said. 'I've always felt like I could compete my way out of it. I always felt like there was something I was building towards. I don't really know what that is anymore. Yeah, no, I haven't felt like this before.'
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
Railway firms diversify ticket gate access methods
Railway companies in Japan are increasingly expanding fare payment options, offering passengers more diverse ways to pass through station ticket gates. In addition to prepaid transportation integrated circuit (IC) cards, such as Suica and Pasmo, a growing number of railway operators are introducing contactless credit card payments. Some routes have also started adopting facial recognition systems for gate access. With the number of overseas visitors on the rise, railway companies are seeking to enhance passenger convenience through more accessible services. Transportation IC cards have become widely used across Japan since East Japan Railway (JR East) introduced Suica in 2001. JR East and other railway companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area are now also promoting mobile IC cards available through smartphone apps. Meanwhile, in response to the growing number of visitors to Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic, more railway operators have introduced boarding systems that accept contactless credit card payments. These systems allow passengers to pass through ticket gates by simply tapping an international brand credit card, with the fare charged later. Tokyu and Seibu Railway are among the operators that now accept contactless credit card payments alongside conventional transportation IC cards. "To capture inbound demand, we need a system that's easy for travelers to use," an official from a railway company in a rural area said. These initiatives aim not only to make travel more convenient by eliminating the need to purchase tickets, but also to help address staffing shortages at stations. Keisei Electric Railway's AI facial recognition boarding service at Keisei Ueno Station in Tokyo. The firm launched the system on its Skyliner limited express line in January. | Jiji In addition, some routes have introduced a service that uses facial recognition technology for ticket gate access. In January, Keisei Electric Railway launched the system on its Skyliner limited express line, which connects Narita International Airport and Ueno in Tokyo. In March, Osaka Metro introduced a similar system, allowing passengers to pass through gates using only facial recognition, provided that they purchase and register digital tickets in advance. The initiative came ahead of the 2025 Osaka Expo. While many railway operators currently accept transportation IC cards and conventional paper tickets alongside newly introduced boarding systems, not all maintain IC card infrastructure. In November last year, five public transportation companies in Kumamoto Prefecture, including Kumamotodentetsu, stopped accepting nationwide transportation IC cards such as Suica, citing the high cost of replacing aging equipment. Instead, they are shifting toward contactless credit card payment systems. On the other hand, JR East, which promotes the Suica card, has no plans to adopt contactless credit card payments. In its 10-year Suica strategy announced in December last year, the company outlined plans to evolve Suica into "a device for daily life," expanding its role beyond transportation and payments. The goal is to create a broader economic ecosystem by leveraging data collected through Suica usage in areas beyond the railway sector, including administrative services through integration with the My Number social security and taxation ID system. JR East also plans to introduce facial recognition technology at ticket gates while maintaining compatibility with the Suica platform. Yuki Fukumoto, head of the financial research office at NLI Research Institute, predicts that railway operators will continue to seek a balance between passenger convenience and maintenance costs. "Railway companies must consider not only how to meet local travel demand, including that of the elderly, but also ensure business continuity in providing services," he said.
NHK
17 hours ago
- NHK
Tremors rattle southwestern Japan island chain
More than 500 tremors have rattled the Tokara island chain in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima over the past week. Japanese officials warn strong jolts could continue for some time. Seismic activity has heightened in the area around Kodakarajima Island since June 21. Noticeable tremors continue in Toshima Village, which consists of Kodakarajima and other islands. A total of 525 jolts registering an intensity of 1 or higher on the 7-point Japanese seismic scale have been observed in the region as for 5 p.m. Saturday. Of these, six registered an intensity of 4 and 27 had an intensity of 3. There have been no tsunamis. The peak of seismic activity so far was Monday, with 183 jolts of intensity 1 or higher. Periods of intense seismic activity have been recorded in the region in the past. In September 2023, 346 tremors with an intensity of 1 or higher were recorded over 15 days, while in December 2021 there were 308 jolts over 26 days.
