1. Introduction
1.4 Research methods
1.4.1 Research setting
(1) Marathons in Japan
With respect to the sporting activity and geographical domain, the context of this research concerns mass participation marathons held in Japan, where a running boom has triggered the development of many interdependent social and cultural factors which influenced the running-related activities themselves and jointly led to the emerging trend of international runners traveling from overseas to Japan to run marathons - a form of international sports tourism.
The first trend observed in Japan since 2010 is the substantial increase of city marathons, or mass participation marathons that accommodate both elite and non-elite runners.
Observing the huge success of the Tokyo Marathon, major and secondary cities alike have started to organize their own versions of city marathons. Below is a non-exhaustive list of city marathons in Japan and their inauguration year. Nara and Iwaki since 2010; Kobe and Osaka since 2011; Kyoto, Kumamoto, and Nagoya since 2012; Kochi and Saga since 2013; Shizuoka and Fukuoka since 2014; Yokohama, Himeji, Toyama, Kanazawa, Okayama, and Saitama since 2015; Kagoshima, Hakodate, and Mito since 2016; Matsumoto since 2017; Matsue and Wakkanai since 2018. Every year there are new events entering the city marathon arena.
The second trend is the emphasis on leveraging marathons to achieve destination marketing and regional revitalization effects. The destination marketing and regional revitalization emphasis is widely observed in city authorities’ strategic move of featuring local specialty products in marathons. It is especially relevant for secondary cities and less established marathons. For example, Choshi, a small town in East Chiba Prefecture, changed the title of its city marathon from “Choshi Peninsula Half Marathon” to “Choshi Sanma (pacific saury) Marathon” in 2017, with the aims to promote both sanma and the marathon.
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The third trend is the increase in international participants. An “international” marathon is no longer a closed arena confined to local and international elite athletes, but for runners in general as well. In recent years, one in six runners in the Tokyo Marathon is from overseas (Tokyo Marathon, 2018). Moreover, overseas applicants for Osaka Marathon have increased almost tenfold from 1,530 in 2008 to 15,005 in 2018 (Osaka Marathon, 2018). Not only are major cities aiming to attract international participants, the above-mentioned small towns such as Choshi City are also welcoming overseas runners by setting up an English entry system for international participants to sign up for their races.
Iwatani, Suzuki, Hara, and Hirata (2012) proposed a classification of marathons based on the number of participants and the time limit of a marathon. First, the number of participants manifests the scale and popularity of the marathon, as well as the push and pull factors related to the hosting destinations. For example, Tokyo Marathon is the most popular marathon event in Japan, with more than 36,000 runners participating in the marathon and presumably enjoying what Tokyo offers as a top tourist destination. Secondly, the time limit is related to the mix of elite competition and mass participation in a marathon. Unlike in most sports competitions where elite athletes and civic participants do not compete in the same category, elite competition and mass participation are not mutually exclusive in a marathon. For example, with a rather loose time limit of seven hours, Tokyo Marathon accommodates both top athletes and civic runners. While the time limit has to be loose enough to accommodate civic runners and to achieve regional revitalizing effects, a loose time limit does not necessarily undermine the competition level or sports nature of a marathon.
In sum, marathons in Japan provide a rich source of information and lessons to draw from.
The focus on Japan also allows the study to shed light on sports tourism research from a geographical area that is less studied in the literature (Hinch et al., 2014).
(2) Choice of research context
The choice of the marathon to be analyzed was guided by the research question “how and why actors cocreate value in an international sports tourism setting?” The following two criteria were proposed accordingly:
⚫ Criteria 1: The marathon has a substantial international focus and a high ratio of international participants compared with marathons of similar scope and scale.
⚫ Criteria 2: The scope and scale of the marathon allows the author access to data that are deemed sufficient to analyze its underlying value cocreation process.
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The selection procedure proceeded first by performing an Internet/archival data search to identify the international focus and number of overseas runners among different marathon events (Table 1-2). Next, a preliminary survey was carried out in January 2016 during a sports tourism conference and a trade fair in which organizers of 15 marathons participated. After an evaluation of the survey and brief conversations with the present marathon organizers, the author short listed Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival as a potential research subject and interviewed its founding partner and staff members to gain a deeper understanding of its characteristics and the possibility of collecting sufficient data. The evaluation turned out to be positive and Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival was chosen as the research context.
Table 1-2 The number of overseas runners for major marathons in Japan (2017)
Event Overseas runners Total runners Percentage of overseas runners
Tokyo Marathon 6,258 35,824 17.5%
Osaka Marathon 4,117 32,000 12.9%
Nagoya Women’s Marathon 3,058 21,701 14.1%
Kyoto Marathon 2,642 16,000 16.5%
Fujisan Marathon 1,775 12,000 14.8%
Kanazawa Marathon 1,231 13,000 9.5%
Naha Marathon 1,197 26,573 4.5%
Kobe Marathon 1,148 19,709 5.8%
Nara Marathon 703 16,000 4.4%
Nagano Marathon 530 11,024 4.8%
Shizuoka Marathon 240 12,000 2.0%
Himeji Castle Marathon 183 8,321 2.2%
Tokushima Marathon 156 15,000 1.0%
Tohoku Food Marathon 132 6,000 2.2%
Kumamoto Castle Marathon 121 12,000 1.0%
Okayama Marathon 90 15,000 0.6%
Niigata City Marathon 87 12,957 0.7%
Note: 1. Organized from official programs, press releases, and media coverages on each marathon.
2. The data for Fujisan Marathon and Naha Marathon are from the 2016 event.
3. The numbers for Tokyo Marathon are based on runners who started the race. The rest are based on runners who signed up for the race.
(3) Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival
Held in Naganuma Park in Tome City of Miyagi Prefecture in Tohoku Region, the Tohoku Food Marathon & Festival (hereafter referred to as Tohoku Food Marathon) is an annual event that started in the spring of 2014 with the aim of revitalizing Tohoku tourism and economy in the aftermath brought by the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit Tohoku in 2011.
Its essence is to stage a festive marathon in which runners and non-runners alike can have fun during the event weekend. With respect to the marathon part, it serves a wide selection of
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local specialty food in each refreshment station set along the running route. It also features a costume theme for participating runners to dress up and run in costumes. The food and costumes together characterize Tohoku Food Marathon as a fun rather than competitive running event (Photo 1-1). Nevertheless, unlike most fun runs that offer only untimed, often shorter distances (five kilometers or shorter), Tohoku Food Marathon offers a full marathon and half marathon for more dedicated runners. The time-limit for finishing the full and half marathon is similar to other city marathons in Japan. Runners are required to finish the full marathon in six hours, and the half marathon in three hours. In addition, they also offer shorter distances such as a five-kilometer road race and kids run for more casual runners and their family members. The programs were designed by the event organizer with the intention of engaging with a wider range of customer segments.
Photo 1-1 Runners participating in Tohoku Food Marathon (Photograph by the author. April 24, 2016)
Regarding the festival part, it is composed of a Food Festival (Photo 1-2), a Sake Festival (Photo 1-3), and a pre-race Food Night featuring local specialty food and entertainment programs. In addition, there are optional tours for participants to see and travel around neighboring areas, including the earthquake-affected Minami Sanriku Town.
To achieve the purpose of revitalizing Tohoku tourism and the economy, Tohoku Food Marathon aims to connect Tohoku with the world by attracting participants from outside of Tohoku to run and stay in the hosting city of Tome in Miyagi Prefecture of Tohoku Region.
The efforts include attracting participants from both other areas in Japan and overseas.
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Photo 1-2 The Food Festival of Tohoku Food Marathon (Photograph by the author. April 24, 2016)
Photo 1-3 The Sake Festival of Tohoku Food Marathon (Photograph by the author. April 24, 2016)
In particular, their focus on attracting international participants can be seen from the services and information they make available to overseas runners. Tohoku Food Marathon offers services such as an English website, a registration portal site for international participants, English interpreters, and English signboards, which are seldom available at comparable (in terms of scale and history of the marathon, and population and reputation of the hosting city)
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marathon events in Japan. In addition, the collaborative relationship between Tohoku Food Marathon and Medoc Marathon in France gave them a head start advantage in building an international reputation, especially during the early years of organizing the event.
Since its inauguration in 2014, Tohoku Food Marathon has been able to steadily grow its participant base and expand its focus on connecting Tohoku with the world. From the beginning, it has been a sister event of the well-known Medoc Marathon in France. Despite the innate disadvantages of staging a marathon in a small and remote community located in the middle of Miyagi Prefecture, the total number of runners has increased from 1,351 in 2014 to around 6,000 in 2017, while the number of international runners has increased from 2 in 2014 to 132 in 2017 (Table 1-3).
Table 1-3 Number of participants in Tohoku Food Marathon (2014–2017)
Number of participants \ Year 2014 2015 2016 2017
Total 1,351 3,000 4,344 6,000
International 2 60 102 132
Source: Organized from annual reports and presentational materials of Tohoku Food Marathon.
Note: The figures indicate the number of people who signed up either for the marathon, half marathon, or races of shorter distances.
Through staging a marathon and a variety of festivals, they offer domestic and international participants chances to get to know Tohoku, fall in love with Tohoku, and revisit Tohoku.
Compared with other marathons in Japan, Tohoku Food Marathon falls in the category of marathons with a longer time limit and smaller number of participants (Iwatani, Suzuki, Hara,
& Hirata, 2012). The smaller number of participants manifests its local character. The relatively high ratio of international participants shows its international appeal (Table 1-2 on p. 25). The longer time limit is related to its mass participation and regional revitalization nature. In sum, the unique characteristics of Tohoku Food Marathon provide an ideal context to examine international sports tourism as a hybrid of a sports event and a regional revitalization event.
(4) Relevant actors
In the context of this study and its objectives, the actors involved in value cocreation consist of three categories: event organizers, event stakeholders, and international participants. The categorization reflects the customer and service provider relationship between international participants and event organizers, while at the same time acknowledging the specific roles played by event stakeholders.
29 (a) Event organizers
In general, the event organizers of a marathon are responsible for the planning and execution of the whole event. The main bodies taking helm can be city authorities or for-profit or non-profit firms and organizations. Unlike most mass participation marathon events that are organized by public administrative bodies of the hosting city, Tohoku Food Marathon is run by the private sector and civic groups without receiving financial support from the public sector.
Event organizers of Tohoku Food Marathon consist of founding partners and core members with different job functions, members from the local tourism promotion association (Tome Association of Tourism and Local Products), and representatives from major sponsors, supporting partners, and local organizations (Table 1-4).
Table 1-4 Composition and roles of event organizers
Category Composition Roles
Founding partners and core members
Vice chairman of the event organizing committee and 10 other members
Organizing and managing the marathon and side events (Sake Festival, pre-race party, and optional tours) Soliciting corporate sponsors (mostly non-local, big corporations)
Members from Tome
Association of Tourism and Local Products
Chairman of the event organizing committee and six other members
Organizing and managing a side event (Food Festival)
Soliciting local corporate sponsors and volunteers
Representatives from major sponsors and supporting partners
Three members from major corporate sponsors and supporting partners
Supportive and supervisory role
Representatives from local organizations
Nine members from local organizations (business council, chamber of commerce and industry, etc.) and neighboring city authorities.
Supervisory role
Source: Organized from the annual report and official program of the 2017 Tohoku Food Marathon.
(b) Event stakeholders
Just like there are diverse organizations and firms in the tourism networks, there are also multiple stakeholders involved in planning and executing events ranging from sports to carnival. Broadly speaking, a stakeholder is a group or individual who can affect the outcome
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of an organization’s objectives or who is affected by the outcome of an organization’s objectives (Freeman & Reed, 1983). In the context of a marathon, the event organizers may be seen as a corporation providing services to customers (participants). Stakeholders in a broad sense include government agencies (e.g. city authority, police station, fire department, etc.), public interest groups (e.g. chamber of commerce and industry, tourism association, etc.), local businesses and organizations, other marathons (partners or competitors), as well as local residents, suppliers, and sponsors.
To focus on investigating the roles played by crucial stakeholders in the value cocreation process, this research adopts a narrower definition of stakeholders and focuses the investigation on “groups and individuals on which Tohoku Food Marathon is dependent for its continued survival” (Freeman & Reed, 1983). Specifically, event stakeholders consist of three groups: (1) corporate sponsors, (2) vendors, (3) volunteers. Corporate sponsors provide financial support and expertise. Vendors supply the food and drinks served along the running route and at the main venue. Volunteers contribute their time and energy to assist with race operations. All of them are vital to staging a successful marathon.
Table 1-5 summarizes the composition and roles played by each group of event stakeholders. Sponsors are classified into five categories from Diamond to Bronze depending on the amount of sponsor fee they contributed. The higher the sponsor fee the higher the category, and more rights and benefits are reserved for the sponsor. While most sponsors in the Silver and Bronze categories are small and medium businesses based in the hosting city of Tome, most sponsors in the Diamond, Platinum, and Gold categories are large corporations based in other cities and regions in Japan.
Vendors include food producers and sake breweries which provide food and sake to be used in refreshment stations and side events of Tohoku Food Marathon such as the Food Festival and Sake Festival. The geographical distribution of vendors covers all six prefectures in Tohoku Region. The variety represents the efforts of the event organizers to make the Tohoku Food Marathon genuinely feature food from across Tohoku.
Finally, volunteers include general volunteers and those with specific job functions. General volunteers assist with event operations at various locations during the event weekend. For example, volunteers help participants check in their baggage, prepare food and drinks at refreshment stations, and hand out souvenirs to runners after they finish. Volunteers with specific job functions include English interpreters who facilitate communications between
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Table 1-5 Composition and roles of event stakeholders
Category Composition Roles
Corporate
sponsors ⚫ Diamond sponsor: A sportswear company
⚫ Platinum sponsors: A cosmetics company and two others
⚫ Gold sponsors: A pharmaceutical company and nine others
⚫ Silver sponsors: A travel agency and eight others
⚫ Bronze sponsors: A local farm and 38 others
Provide financial support in the form of sponsor fee from 100,000 (Bronze) to 6,000,000 Japanese yen (Diamond) Gold sponsors and above may operate a corporate booth at the main venue.
Vendors ⚫ Food producers from all six prefectures in Tohoku Region
⚫ Sake breweries from all six prefectures in Tohoku Region
Provide food and sake that are used in refreshment stations and side events (Food Festival, Sake Festival, pre-race party, and optional tours).
Volunteers ⚫ General volunteers (local and non-local, group and individual)
⚫ Volunteers with specific job functions (English interpreter, sake sommelier)
Assist with event operations at the main venue, refreshment stations, and side events (Food Festival, Sake Festival, pre-race party and optional tours).
Source: Organized from the annual report, internal documents, and presentational material of the 2017 Tohoku Food Marathon.
event stakeholders and international participants, and sake sommeliers (some of them are multilingual) who are staffed at the Sake Festival to work with sake breweries.
(c) International participants
In accordance to the definition of international sports tourism in this study, international participants refer to non-Japanese traveling from overseas to Japan to participate in the Tohoku Food Marathon. The total number of the international participants of Tohoku Food Marathon has grown steadily over the first four editions (2014–2017) of Tohoku Food Marathon (Table 1-3 on p. 28).
Moreover, Table 1-6 shows the place of residence composition of international participants in 2016 and 2017. With participants from Taiwan and Hong Kong occupying the majority of international participants, the place of residence composition is similar to most other marathons in Japan that have significant numbers of international participants. A small number of participants came from European countries such as France, Czech, Poland, Ireland, and Portugal. According to the event organizers, these people participated because they became interested in Tohoku Food Marathon when they ran the Medoc Marathon, during which they
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Table 1-6 Place of residence composition of international participants (2016–2017) 2016 Tohoku Food Marathon 2017 Tohoku Food Marathon
Residence Number of participants Residence Number of participants
Hong Kong 38 Hong Kong 29
Taiwan 10 Taiwan 20
U.S.A. 5 China 15
France 4 U.S.A. 3
China 3 Australia 2
Canada 2 Czech 2
U.K. 2 Poland 2
Australia 1 Bosnia 1
Brazil 1 Egypt 1
Germany 1 India 1
Ireland 1 Portugal 1
Singapore 1 Singapore 1
Thailand 1 Unidentified 54
Unidentified 32
Total 102 Total 132
Source: Organized from annual reports of Tohoku Food Marathon.
visited the promotion booth of Tohoku Food Marathon at the venue of Medoc Marathon.
Though the number of participants from Europe is relatively small, the presence of European runners broadened the participant base of Tohoku Food Marathon globally. While Japanese runners were not included as one of the main actors in this study and might appear underrepresented, participant observations carried out during the marathon and its side events allowed the author to interact informally with a large number of Japanese runners.