Tokyo Marathon 2027

 

Dates marked ~ are projected from the last confirmed cycle. Always verify on the official race website.

The race

Course: A largely flat point-to-point through central Tokyo, finishing near Tokyo Station.

Elevation: 198 ft (60 m) of climbing against 322 ft (98 m) of descent, net downhill and fast.

Typical weather: Mean race-day temperature around 44°F (6°C), close to the optimal range for marathon performance.

Official site: marathon.tokyo/en

Your odds

Very low. Over 300,000 people apply for ~38,000 total spots, but a significant portion of those go to charity runners, tour operators, ONE TOKYO members, and semi-elite qualifiers. General lottery acceptance is estimated at below 10%.

How to enter

6 ways in

1. General lotteryOpen to anyone. The main route in. Below 10%. Aug 14–28, 2026
2. Abbott WMM Race DrawRequires you to have completed 4+ Majors; only 300 spots. Closes Aug 12, 2026
3. ONE TOKYO GLOBAL membershipA second lottery entry through an earlier, separate window. Jul 31 – Aug 13, 2026
4. Charity entryGuaranteed place for a minimum ¥100,000 (~$670 USD) raise. Closed for 2027
5. Official tour operatorGuaranteed entry bundled with travel. The priciest route. Rolling
6. RUN as ONE virtual challenges40 guaranteed spots per challenge, awarded by lottery. Varies

General lottery

Anyone can enter: no qualifying time and no membership required. Entry opens at 11:00 AM JST on August 14, 2026 and closes at 5:00 PM JST on August 28, 2026, with results on September 18. Over 300,000 people apply for roughly 38,000 places, and a large share are spoken for by the routes below, so general acceptance sits below 10%. Entry is $230 USD international, ¥19,800 domestic.

Abbott WMM Race Draw

Applications opened January 5, 2026 and close on August 12, 2026, with the draw made the following day and winners notified by email. Tokyo puts 300 guaranteed places into this draw. You need four, five or six completed Majors by the draw date, a higher bar than the three most races ask for, and you can't enter if you've already run Tokyo. See the official draw terms. Because the pool is limited to runners still chasing stars rather than the general public, the odds beat the general lottery by a wide margin.

ONE TOKYO GLOBAL membership

Membership buys you a shot at a separate members-only lottery that runs before the general one: July 31 to August 13, 2026, with results September 1. Miss it or lose it and you can still enter the general lottery, so it is effectively a second ticket rather than a replacement.

Charity entry

Tokyo's charity window ran June 24 to July 9, 2026 and has closed for this cycle. The minimum is ¥100,000, roughly $670 USD, on top of the entry fee. It is the most reliable non-lottery route for runners without the Majors count for an Abbott draw, but it demands the earliest calendar attention of anything on this page.

Official tour operator

Official tour operators hold an allocation of guaranteed places and sell them bundled with hotel and transfers. You pay a significant premium over the entry fee, and packages for a given year sell out well before the race. Worth it if Tokyo specifically is the goal and you would rather buy certainty than wait on a draw.

RUN as ONE virtual challenges

Tokyo runs virtual challenges that put 40 guaranteed places per challenge into a lottery among finishers. The field is far smaller than the general lottery, so the per-entry odds are better, but the number of places is tiny and the challenge has to be completed first.

Common questions