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The story
The area around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward has long been famous as a hotspot for “Imperial Palace jogging,” but in recent years, friction between runners and pedestrians sharing the sidewalks has become increasingly noticeable. In an interview with Shueisha Online, a ward official acknowledged receiving requests to improve the walking environment. On a 5ch thread, alongside complaints about runners treating the narrow sidewalk like their own private track, several commenters pointed out that Imperial Palace jogging has somehow turned into a spot for meeting people and hunting for marriage partners, sparking a debate over whether restrictions are needed.
Published 8/29 (Sat) 9:00 — Shueisha Online
Debate has broken out on social media over so-called “Imperial Palace jogging” around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. What should Imperial Palace jogging ideally look like? We spoke with a Chiyoda Ward official.
“We’ve received requests for the walking environment to be improved.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Then, as the media picked it up during the health boom — running stories about bathhouses turning into makeshift changing-room bases and so on — it spread, and the place eventually turned into a "pilgrimage site" people would travel from far away just to run at.
To begin with, the National Mall is basically a park — the paths are wide, and there's plenty of room for people to take turns running with zero problems.
But over here, it's a narrow sidewalk. If you want to do that, go run in Yoyogi Park or something.
I don't think it's that one — I think it's the sidewalk around the moat, which is interlocking-block pavement. I'm not a runner so I haven't checked the whole loop, so there might be asphalt sections too.
Re: #2
"Since I'm never going there anyway, you all can just fight it out amongst yourselves!!"
…or something like that, lol
I mean, they go through all the trouble of traveling from home just to run there.
(;゚Д゚) They're out there running even on typhoon days and in heavy snow.
Aren't they just wealthy Chiyoda Ward residents?
They should just line up bike-blocking metal posts close enough together to kill any motivation to run through.
Probably because you're clumsy? Pay more attention to your surroundings when you walk.
Why'd you get shoved? Were you walking several-abreast, blocking the whole path or something?
Imperial Palace runners
Train photographers ("tori-tetsu" — obsessive train-photo fans notorious for bad behavior)
Ticket scalpers
Imperial Palace runners are the only one of those limited to one specific location, lol
I feel that. Had a runner coming toward me, so I stuck my elbow out in front of me — they body-checked me and I caught an elbow to the chest, lol.
It used to just be a jogging/walking route for local residents, but once Imperial Palace jogging got popular on Instagram and social media, and "running stations" aimed at long-distance commuting runners started popping up everywhere, the number of people trekking all the way to the Imperial Palace just to run exploded.
https://kokyorunstyle.com/runners-station/takebashi-kanda/
Around the Takebashi, Jimbocho, and Kanda areas, there are lots of facilities called "running stations" (a.k.a. "run-sta") equipped with lockers and showers.
If you use a running station, you can rent running shoes and running wear as well as change and shower there, so you can enjoy running casually without carrying anything.
Run Cube
https://runcube.jp/shoplist/kanda/
2F: Reception and studio
3F: Men's Run Cube
– Showers [4 units]
– Lockers [60 for men]
– Contract lockers [72 for men]
– Powder room
– Restroom [1 for men]
4F: Women's Run Cube
– Showers [5 units]
– Lockers [52 for women]
– Contract lockers [48 for women]
– Powder room
– Restroom [1 for women]
Wouldn't it be simpler to just ban the running stations?
Wait, what, lol — isn't this just rich people from the area running? Kind of ironic that rich people don't have more room to spare. If it were poor people, I'd get it — no room to spare, right, lol.
Because it's a hookup spot — same as the gym.
There are even guys who go charging up hiking trails, scattering actual hikers out of the way — apparently there was one even on Mt. Fuji. If you want to run, run on a dedicated track.
Pedestrians tend to walk side by side in groups, so a measure like that wouldn't really work.
It's also a tourist spot, so it's a stretch to expect pedestrians to follow a "recommendation." Honestly, it's just not a place suited for running in the first place.
Most pedestrians have it drilled into them that walking on the left is the default, so you'd get pushback like "why do we have to walk on the right?" Hard to pull off. If anything, from just walking around day to day, I can't help but think there are plenty of people who genuinely (and wrongly) believe pedestrians are legally required to walk on the left under the traffic laws.
That's because in the Showa era, citizens still had morals. In the Heisei era, morals collapsed and "if it's not banned, anything goes" became the norm. You're right that just piling on rules without rebuilding morals is a dumb approach.
I wonder about that. Sounds to me like people just trashed public order and the common good and then said "ah, wasn't freedom great." Well, I don't want to start a generational fight, so I'll leave it there (´･ω･`)
The economy was good, there was hope, and people had room in their hearts — it was a society where giving way to others actually paid off. Now it's a society where giving way just makes you the loser. Morals are a fragile, vague thing — once someone starts breaking them, they collapse all at once.
https://assets.st-note.com/production/uploads/images/235748589/rectangle_large_type_2_1c488d7a2cfed7dc4ba7ab90b8956543.jpeg
Background and key points of this topic
The roughly 5km loop around the Imperial Palace has no traffic lights and little elevation change, which is why it has been a go-to running course in central Tokyo ever since the jogging boom of the 2000s. Around Takebashi and Kanda, more and more “running stations” — changing facilities with lockers and showers — have opened, and sidewalks that used to be a simple walking route for local residents have turned into a destination for runners commuting in from far away, which is the backdrop to the current friction. Opinion on the thread split over where to place the blame: some pointed to the manners of runners effectively monopolizing the narrow sidewalk, while others argued the sidewalk itself simply isn’t built for runners and pedestrians to share. Alongside calls for a left/right-side rule or for steering runners toward alternative courses like Yoyogi Park, it’s worth noting that the claim that Imperial Palace jogging effectively functions as a matchmaking spot adds a dimension to this beyond a simple nuisance debate.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “〈Imperial Palace Jogging — Time to Ban It?〉 ‘Get out of the way,’ ‘You’re in the way’ — What we found after confronting Chiyoda Ward directly: the real complaints, and a surprising take on it as a ‘matchmaking spot’.”
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