Yen is strong, so runners still flock from Japan

Ten years ago registration for the Honolulu Marathon — including that of entrants from Japan — was “way down,” according to spokesman Pat Bigold.

There was good reason.

It was just three months after Sept. 11, 2001.

There also was cause to expect a decrease in Japanese participants this year. And this one was closer to home for them: The earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the city of Sendai and surrounding areas in March killed, injured and displaced thousands of people.

Many are still in mourning and rebuilding their lives.

But the Japanese make up a large portion of the 21,286 registered as of Thursday for Sunday’s 26.2-mile race through the streets of Honolulu. As usual, they are the vast majority of the crowd at the Hawaii Convention Center for the Honolulu Marathon Expo. The total number of marathon registrants is 60 ahead of the pace for this year’s field three days before the event.

“The feeling we’re getting is many of them are out of the mourning phase,” Bigold said. “You don’t hear about (the natural disasters).”

THE EXPO is as eclectic and fun as usual, with free samples ranging from barley grass drink (not as bad as you might think) to sort-of-red-wine flavored anti-oxidant candy (very tasty). I was sorry to see there were no Zippy’s chili samples this time, but plenty of bentos and other food is to be had at the concession.

Everything runners might need from Snugg Buds headsets to race-day shoes from adidas is available, too.

Glady Burrill, the 93-year-old face of the Honolulu Marathon, is inducted into its Hall of Fame at the site of the expo Thursday. Later, Hawaiian musicians and a hula dancer entertain runners/tourists. There’s even a Santa Claus on site to take pictures with kids … a very thin and Japanese-looking Santa Claus.

MAO NAKAJI is a Seattle University student from Kyoto, Japan. This week she’s in Hawaii, working at the expo, disbursing anti-oxides for GNC.

“The yen is high compared to the dollar, so that makes coming here for the marathon attractive for shopping purposes,” said Nakaji, a business major.

“It goes up and down, but since the tsunami the yen has still generally been strong (compared to the dollar). When it comes to mourning, it’s always a positive thing. Since our (Hawaii) economy is based so much on tourism, of course we’re going to encourage them to come.”

Bigold is often asked why statistics indicate that the marathon stimulates our economy more than the Pro Bowl — an event that brings in around the same number of tourists.

“The runners tend to spend more because they stay here longer,” he said. “And a lot of the Japanese also go to the neighbor islands.”

Makes sense. I can see getting on an airplane and flying a few hours over the ocean the day after the Pro Bowl. After running a marathon? No thanks, give me a few days relaxing poolside and rehydrating first.

The Japanese still have a yen for Honolulu, and it’s fortunate for us that so many have embraced a skip-the-marathon-and-Mother Nature-wins attitude.

If you’re inconvenienced by road closures and such on Sunday, remember the marathon helps our economy. It’s similar in humbug-ness to APEC, but it’s just one day.