... TV, persons of both genders and all social and educational levels, creating a common civic culture. Berlin Marathon distance running Fujiwara Arata Gebrselassie Haile Matsuo Kazumi Running Sasaki Hideyuki Seko Toshihiko Takahashi Naoko Tenmaya team Tokyo Marathon Beppu Ōita Marathon civic...

... the relentlessly nationalistic goals underlying government policies toward sports—above all marathons where Japanese have been so successful—throughout the modern era. It shows that the explosion of open-participation races for ordinary citizens of both genders has created a new civic culture in Japan....

..., a status equalizer and mobilizer of social energies that has shattered nearly all the barriers of elitism that until recently sheltered the sport. Running is the ultimate egalitarian sport, the surprising source of a new citizenship based on a new civic culture and community identity for participants...