3. Are they "poster runner"? The thick-soled shoe controversy and the uniform in universities

（You can both listen to the audio and read the manuscript）

Summary by ChatGPT

The podcast delves into the significant impact of thick-soled shoes, tracing their popularity in Japan back to the 2017 Boston Marathon, where runner Suguru Osako wore Nike's thick-soled shoes and secured 3rd place, marking a significant moment in marathon history. This event sparked a trend, leading to a drastic shift in shoe preferences among long-distance runners, moving from brands like Asics and Mizuno to Nike. By 2021, 95% of Hakone Ekiden runners wore Nike's thick-soled shoes, showing a dominant market presence. However, recent trends indicate a shift, with other brands like Asics and Adidas regaining market share. The podcast also discusses the strategic partnerships between universities and sports brands, highlighting how brands like Asics responded to the thick-soled shoe trend by releasing their own versions tailored to different running styles. Additionally, it touches on the changing injury patterns due to the shoe type and the intense competition among shoe manufacturers, emphasizing the importance of innovation and marketing in this dynamic market.

Opening

「Audio Japan 〜Learning Japan with You〜」 This podcast is to dive into Japanese culture, trends, and so on.

Through Audio Japan, I aim to make you like Japan more, help you chat with people in your daily life, have business meetings, and communicate with people from different countries.

If you want to listen to the episode in Japanese, go to the podcast "Audio Japan 〜あなたと一緒に日本を学ぶ〜」

The audio is available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast, etc.

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●YouTube

●Apple Podcast

‎Apple Podcast内のAudio Japan 〜Learning Japan with You〜

My name is Taiki Arai, and I am an educational designer. 

As you are listening to this, have you ever heard of the Shoes with a thick sole controversy? You have definitely never heard of it. What do you mean by a platform shoes controversy? Arguing over height? You might have thought so.

Actually, in the long-distance community, Shoes with a thick sole  have been the norm in Ekiden and marathons for about five years now.

So again, the content of my talks this time is about the Hakone Ekiden. You may think, "How much can I talk about just the Hakone Ekiden?", but the Hakone Ekiden is a great content. It has been held for 100 years, and I think I have to use that merit to the fullest.

In the first half, I will talk about the Shoes with a thick sole controversy, and in the second half, I will talk about 'that thing' on the uniforms of each university.

Let’s get started.

The shoes with a thick sole controversy

Thick-soled shoes became known in Japan as far back as the Boston Marathon in April 2017.
At that time, Suguru Osako, running his first marathon, placed third in the Boston Marathon. As a side note, Osako achieved a 6th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, and I have the impression that he has been on his own path since his high school and college days in the track and field community. In fact, those who enter universities in the Kanto region spend four years with the Hakone Ekiden as one of their goals, but at that time, Osako spent his days at Waseda University aiming for the world in track events such as the 5000m and 10,000m.
By the way, his wife is from Fukui Prefecture, just like me. LOL!

Back to the Boston Marathon, it had been 30 years since Toshihiko Seko won the Boston Marathon, and Osako was wearing thick-soled Nike shoes. At the time, when I saw the shoes, I thought, "Hey, Osako is wearing NIKE shoes. I still have an impression of Osako because he had been wearing mizuno shoes until then.

The following year, in 2018, Toyo University actively wore thick-soled shoes and achieved good results in the Ekiden, and gradually the university long-distance and industrial athletes switched to NIKE thick-soled shoes from asics and mizuno, which dominated the market share at that time.

In fact, NIKE's share in the 2017 Hakone Ekiden was only 17.1%, but since the introduction of thick-soled shoes, NIKE's share has increased year by year, and I noticed that 95% of runners in the 2021 Hakone Ekiden were wearing NIKE thick-soled shoes. Since 21 teams participate in the Hakone Ekiden every year, with 10 runners from each university, this means that more than 200 runners wore NIKE shoes. Wow, that is really amazing.

If I were in charge of shoe manufacturers other than NIKE, I would have been drenched in cold sweat. If they could not introduce their shoes at the Hakone Ekiden, the biggest PR event for shoe manufacturers, they would not be known to junior high school and high school students, or even citizen runners. It would be like throwing away billions of yen in advertising.

On the other hand, three years later, NIKE unexpectedly lost its majority in this year's Hakone Ekiden, while ASICS and adidas recovered. NIKE had 98 runners for 42.6%, ASICS had 57 runners for 24.8%, and Adidas had 42 runners for 18.3%. These three companies accounted for about 85% of the total.

After PUMA came in fourth with 20 respondents for 8.7%, Mizuno came in fifth with 3, on with 3, HOKA with 2, and New Balance, Under Armour, and Brooks with 1.

While it was surprising to see NIKE fall below the majority, I have the impression that asics has recovered considerably.

Asics released thick-soled shoes in March 2021 in response to NIKE's thick-soled shoes. Specifically, the company offers two types of shoes: the METASPEED Sky, which is designed for stride-type runners, and the METASPEED Edge, which is designed for pitch-type runners.

The widespread use of thick-soled shoes has also changed the areas where injuries occur. While thin-soled shoes, which had been the mainstream until then, caused many people to suffer from shin splints, Achilles tendons, and knee injuries, thick-soled shoes caused hip and buttock injuries, as well as fatigue fractures.

One shoe can affect the way you run and the parts of your body where you train your muscles.

Since all manufacturers release thick-soled shoes, I thought that if we compare them only in terms of function, they may not be that different.
Since the competition for the running shoe pie can change quickly in a few years, when I thought about what kind of strategies each company will develop for PR and marketing in the future, I wondered if it might be in the uniforms and university partnerships that we deal with in the latter part of the market. 

Uniforms

Then, while thick-soled shoes are generally introduced, a closer look at the uniforms of each university shows the logos of sports manufacturers and sponsors.

First, let me talk about the former.
Looking at the logos of the schools participating in this year's Hakone Ekiden, we see that Mizuno: 6 schools (Housei Univ., Soka Univ., Nittaidai Univ., Nichidai Univ., Kanagawa Univ., Kokushikan Univ.) ASICS: 4 schools (Waseda Univ., Teikyo Univ., Chuogakuin Univ., Yamanashi Univ.) Nike: 5 schools (Komazawa Univ., Chuo Univ., Toyo Univ., Meiji Univ., Tokai Univ.) adidas: 4 schools (Aoyamagakuin Univ., Kokugakuin Univ,Dai-Toh Univ., TUAT) Puma: 2 schools (Josai University, Rikkyo University) New Balance: 1 school (Jungakuin University) ON: 1 school (Surugadai University).

The manufacturers listed in the uniforms provide shoes and clothing to the runners, and I have the impression that sports manufacturers have been cooperating with runner training in recent years

For example, PUMA has concluded partnership agreements with two schools, Rikkyo University and Josai University, and invites them to join the "PUMA ELITE RUNNING Team" in the U.S. to gain valuable experience. NIKE has also arranged overseas races and training camps, including inviting Toyo University to its U.S. headquarters to experience local road races. Adidas also sends athletes from Kokugakuin and Aogaku Universities to ultra-high-level races sponsored by the company, providing opportunities to run with world-class athletes.

This is my personal prediction, but I have a feeling that about three of the universities currently under contract with Mizuno will change to some foreign manufacturer in a few years.
For the players and directors, universities that have a large budget or offer overseas placement opportunities are more likely to provide opportunities for growth.

Next, I would like to talk about sponsor logos.
If you look closely at the uniforms of various universities, you will see that some universities have sponsor logos on the right chest area.

Originally, the rules prohibited sponsor logos on uniforms, but following the revision of advertising regulations by the World Association of Athletics Federations, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) adopted a new rule. The same sponsor's name was allowed to be placed in one place on the shirt and one place on the pants with the logo "within 40 square centimeters and 5 centimeters in height.

This ban was lifted by Aoyama Gakuin University coach Hara. Believe it or not, this has an effect of several billion yen in terms of advertising costs.
Among the offers from various companies, Aoyama Gakuin chose the government rather than a private company as "Myoko City.

The reason for this is that since 2004, when Director Hara took office, he has visited the city every year as a training camp. Myoko City is "a perfect place for skiing, with easy access from Tokyo and hot spring resorts in winter. I hope I can help boost the city," said Director Hara.

Toyo University has the logo of Ito En's "Healthy Mineral Mugi-cha" and Meiji University has Sato Foods' "Sato no Gohan" on its right breast.

One of the most interesting entries in this year's Hakone Ekiden was "Kinuta Dental Clinic. The dental clinic is located in Hachioji City, and there are 250 advertisements in the city, some of which are so enthusiastic that they make pilgrimages to sacred places.

The man pictured in the ad is Dr. Kinuta, the clinic's director. It seems that Director Kinuta is a "man of the hour" who is often featured in TV variety shows and on the radio. I am someone who does not watch TV or variety shows at all, so this is the first time I have heard of him.

The winner of the 6th section was a Hosei University runner, so his interview was being aired, but then there was an incident. A person from Nittele instructed him to hold the mascot in front of the Kinuta Dental logo, so that the "Nuta Dental" and "Ki" were not visible.

However, thanks in part to this, viewers began to wonder, "What's with this confusing logo?" and this resulted in the viewers being interested in the logo.

As a side note, when I was researching Mr. Kinuta, I found that he was featured in "MarkeZine," which provides original marketing information. Let me quote from the free part of the article.

.
Incidentally, when I was researching Kinuta-san, I found that he was featured in "MarkeZine," which publishes original marketing information. Let me quote the free part.

The owner of this signboard is Mr. Yasukazu Kinuta, the director of Kinuta Dental Clinic. While the annual sales of a typical dental clinic is said to be 50 million yen, he is an unorthodox dentist with annual sales exceeding 1.6 billion yen with only one store in front of Nishi-Hachioji Station, without opening many stores. Considering that the cost ratio of a dental clinic is about 50%, it is not difficult to imagine how much profit they are making. Incidentally, Kinuta Dental's annual advertising expenses are said to be about 250 million yen (as of 2023).

This article is a paid article, so I cannot say more, but I found some parts of it very informative.

In this episode, I developed a story about thick-soled shoes, manufacturer logos, and sponsor logos. I thought that the runners in the Hakone Ekiden are "running billboards. I thought, "Aren't runners in the Hakone Ekiden "running billboards? If they produce good results, they are praised by companies, universities, and viewers, and if they do poorly, they are sometimes criticized. I thought it was important how to control the category of student sports.

Ending

"Audio Japan - Learning Japan with You".

It was time for the ending.

 In fact, there was one more topic to talk about. It was about the number of media exposure of the Hakone Ekiden and the number of applicants for admission to universities.

However, I thought it would be too persistent, so I will post the paper on this in the summary section. If you are interested, please check it out.

And once again, I have reaffirmed my love of Ekiden, including the Hakone Ekiden. I also briefly watched the National Women's Prefectural Ekiden that was taking place a few days ago, and I plan to watch the National Men's Prefectural Ekiden that will be held next week from start to finish.

As for the feature on Hakone Ekiden, I would like to do it again around December 2024. Please look forward to it.

Also, as I mentioned at the beginning, if you would like to listen to the podcast , "Audio Japan - Learning Japan with You" in Japanese, please listen to it from "Audio Japan - あなたと一緒に日本を学ぶ.
The program is available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcast, etc.

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