Tokyo Marathon 2027

The Tokyo Marathon 2027 is on Sunday, March 7, 2027, starting at 9:10am at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, per the race's official outline. The field is 40,000 runners and the course closes seven hours after the start, and it finishes at the Wadakura Gate intersection by the Imperial Palace, a short walk from Tokyo Station.

Entries for 2027 have closed, so for a visitor without a race number the choice is to plan a Tokyo weekend around the race or away from it. This guide covers both, and how to enter for 2028.

If you are going just to look, a Thursday or Friday daytime visit avoids the Saturday crowd.

If you are running, a hotel near the start or finish for Friday and Saturday nights, booked now on a rate you can cancel. Shinjuku puts you a walk from the 9:10am start; Marunouchi puts you a walk from the finish when your legs no longer want the train.

The race's official partner, KINTETSU INTERNATIONAL, sells accommodation packages for participants; they do not include an entry. Compare them with booking the hotel directly, since the package only helps if it has the hotel you want.

If you are not running and do not want the crowds, avoid hotels on the course for the Saturday night and plan the Sunday morning away from central Tokyo.

The turning points are the best places to watch, because you see the runners go out and come back. The official course has three:

• Ueno-hirokoji, at 10.6 km, south of Ueno Park.
• Tomioka Hachimangu, at about 24 km, the shrine at Monzen-nakacho, east of the river.
• Tamachi Station, at 37.5 km, in the south, where the runners turn back toward the finish.

Between them the course passes Iidabashi, Akihabara, Nihombashi, the Kuramae and Komagata area near Asakusa, Ryogoku, Ginza and Hibiya. Ginza and Hibiya, late in the race, are the easiest stretch to reach and still have room on the sidewalks. The finish area at Wadakura Gate is the most crowded.

Expect roads on the course to be closed while the runners pass, so cross the city by subway, not taxi, on Sunday morning.

Not through the race: every 2027 entry window on the official entry schedule has closed. General entry took applications from August 14 to August 28, 2026, by lottery; charity places closed in July and August; and the overseas member and semi-elite routes closed on August 13.

The entry fee was ¥19,800 for domestic runners and US$230 for international runners, and the race asks general runners to be able to finish within six hours and 30 minutes. For the 2027 race, charity applications opened on June 24, 2026, last year's pattern and the only guide to 2028 so far. If you want to run in 2028, watch the official site from June 2027 and have your choice made, charity or lottery, before the first window opens.

Race week is too early for the cherry trees. The Japan Meteorological Agency record puts Tokyo's normal first cherry bloom on March 24, and the earliest of the last six years was March 14. Do not plan a marathon trip around cherry blossom: you would need to stay two more weeks in most years.

The next public holidays after race day are March 21 and the substitute holiday on March 22, on the Cabinet Office list.

1. Thursday or Friday: arrive, visit the expo at Tokyo Big Sight, an early dinner.
2. Saturday: a short, easy run and a quiet afternoon near the hotel.
3. Sunday: the race, then a late lunch near Tokyo Station.
4. Monday onward: the trip itself, with the hardest walking days at the end.

The five-day Tokyo itinerary works for the days after the race, and the where to stay in Tokyo guide compares Shinjuku and Marunouchi. The early arrival hotel guide covers a morning landing.