Interview Relay 42 Stories of the Tokyo Marathon
〜Connecting Hearts〜

Interview Relay: 42 Stories of the Tokyo Marathon ~ Connecting Hearts ~ The 5th interviewee is Ms. Mirei Shimada from the Volunteer Division of the Tokyo Marathon Foundation.

What are the appealing points and values of the Tokyo Marathon from her perspective as someone in charge of running the official volunteer club “VOLUNTAINER” and training volunteers? She will touch on the thinking leading up to the milestone 20th anniversary in 2027.

 

I am passionate about creating opportunities for volunteers to find joy and happiness and work with a smile!

–Referring to your experience before how you came to become a staff member of the Tokyo Marathon Foundation?

 Before joining the Foundation, I worked in an administrative position in my hometown of Tateyama City in Chiba Prefecture for 10 years. After gaining experience in various departments, I was assigned to the Sports Division and was in charge of managing a marathon event with approximately 10,000 participants. At that time, I was involved in a variety of tasks such as applying for road permits and coordinating with organizations, but while managing volunteers, The volunteers’ joy on event day really struck me – I felt a strong desire to “create more opportunities like this,” so I joined the Tokyo Marathon Foundation in April 2018.

 

–What was your impression of the Tokyo Marathon before becoming a staff member of the Foundation?

 I first learned about the Tokyo Marathon when I attended a seminar and watched a video of the volunteers there (Thank you Volunteer). I still remember how moved I was when I first saw it, watching each and every volunteer cheering on the runners with such energy and genuine smiles. At the time, I had just started to get involved in marathon management, so I thought it was wonderful that the Tokyo Marathon could deliver excitement not only to runners and volunteers, but also through a screen. I was inspired to create the same kind of experience in the events I manage through the Tokyo Marathon.

 

Fostering VOLUNTAINER and culture of sports volunteers

–Please tell us about VOLUNTAINER, which is run primarily by the Volunteer Division.

 VOLUNTAINER was established on October 6, 2016, as the official volunteer club of the Tokyo Marathon Foundation. Registration is required to to volunteer for events organized by the Foundation, including the Tokyo Marathon. As of the end of October 2024, there are approximately 29,000 members.

VOLUNTAINER not only recruits volunteers but also focus on volunteer developmenttrains them throughout the year. We provide a variety of training opportunities, such as life-saving training and disability support, which are also useful in daily life. These are specifically aimed at Leader Support*1 and Leaders*2, who play key roles in the volunteer framework. By offering these opportunities, we aim to create a supportive and enjoyable environment where all volunteers can feel safe and enjoy their experience.

The leadership training program has spread by word of mouth and is quite popular. We often hear, “The content is interesting!” and “It’s useful for work and family too!” and we receive a large number of applications every year. We also aim to foster a sports volunteer culture by continuously holding “VOLUNTAINER meetings” once a year for members to interact with each other and improve their skills. We also have many other initiatives that we can’t cover here, so please visit the VOLUNTAINER website and subscribe to our newsletter!

 

–Please tell us what makes volunteering for the Tokyo Marathon unique and what makes the VOLUNTAINER organization so special.

 First of all, I think the appeal of volunteering at the Tokyo Marathon is the sense of unity. The volunteers’s smiles and their hospitable actions create a strong sense of unity with their shared goal of supporting many runners from start to finish.

Additionally, it is the presence of leaders and leader support that brings smiles to the faces of volunteer members and ensures safe and secure volunteer operations. I think this is one of the attractions of VOLUNTAINER, and every year in the Tokyo Marathon volunteer survey, we receive many words of appreciation and gratitude for our leaders. Some people also try leader training at the recommendation of their leaders, and leaders participate in other races together as a group and support each other when they don’t understand something. I think one of the attractions of volunteering is the relationships that are born between volunteers who help each other improve and celebrate their growth.

 

–Do you think that the volunteer activities at the Tokyo Marathon and the VOLUNTAINER initiative have had an impact on fostering and developing a (sports) volunteer culture?　If so, what kind of impact do you think they have?

 We sometimes receive inquiries from people who are interested in learning about the Tokyo Marathon’s volunteer system and training programs, with the goal of collaborating with VOLUNTAINER. These collaborations include holding “volunteer leader training sessions” and “seminars for beginner volunteers” for local volunteers, as well as recruiting and dispatching VOLUNTAINER members to other events through e-mail newsletters.

Once, we received a request from another event organizer who was struggling to recruit  volunteers, so we quickly put a call through VOLUNTAINER, and as a result, we were able to fill all the necessary volunteer positions. After the event, the organizers said that “The VOLUNTAINERs’ response was fantastic.” They praised the event and said, “We would love to have them again!” We believe this is also the result of the experience the VOLUNTAINERs have gained through various activities, including the Tokyo Marathon. At another event, when we worked with local volunteers, we heard a heartwarming story of a local person saying “We hope you come again. Next time, I’d like to volunteer at the Tokyo Marathon too!”

Through these collaborations, we believe VOLUNTAINERs will be able to expand the scope of their activities and encounters with people beyond the Tokyo Marathon, and that they will be able to utilize the experiences and realizations they have gained from various activities back at the Tokyo Marathon, thereby fostering a culture of sports volunteering.

 

–Please tell us your thoughts about VOLUNTAINER.

 First of all, personally, I’m constantly learning from our VOLUNTAINERs, one of which is their incredible ability to see things in a positive light and transform them. They often express their gratitude and appreciation to us, the organizing staff, such as “Thank you!” and “You helped us out at that time!” They have provided valuable feedback from the very beginning of my time here, such as “You could explain things better if you did it this way,” so I strongly feel that I’ve grown into the person I am today thanks to the VOLUNTAINERs’ nurturing. Meeting them at volunteer sites and training sessions gives me energy. I am deeply grateful to all the volunteers who participated in the Tokyo Marathon and showed their love for the event. I want to cherish them.

Next, as the Volunteer Division, we often receive heartwarming messages in the post-event volunteer surveys, such as “Thank you for a wonderful day” and “Please take care of yourself and thank you for your hard work!” During the information session, for example, they show concern for our well-being and there were many occasions when we felt that they were like family. Our relationship with the VOLUNTAINERs is not just that of “volunteer and office,” but we would like to build lifelong connections where we share joys and happy experiences. We will continue striving to make “VOLUNTAINER is the best!” so we appreciate your continued support!

 

Volunteering offers unique experiences and rewards you won’t find anywhere else.

–What is the value and role of the Tokyo Marathon, for Tokyo and the city of Tokyo?

 I once heard that the Tokyo Marathon was what helped spread the culture of sports volunteering in Japan. At that time, I felt the incredible power of the Tokyo Marathon. I mentioned earlier that the appeal of volunteering is the sense of unity, but I feel that the power of the volunteers also creates a sense of unity with the city, further uniting it and making “The Day We Unite.” a reality.

 

–What is the  value of the Tokyo Marathon for the volunteers?

 I believe there are sights that only volunteers can witness, so let me share a few quotes from our survey responses from volunteers.

“My job was to hand out finisher medals to the runners. I was able to feel the firsthand emotions of the runners as they took on the Tokyo Marathon, each with their own feelings and thoughts. It was an experience I could never have had anywhere else.”

On the day of the race, the volunteers are the ones closest to the participants. They send off the runners with “Have a nice run!” when collecting their baggage before the start, cheer them on with “Just a little more! Do your best!” when providing water along the course, and congratulate them with “Great run!” when putting on their medals after the finish. The scenes they witness and the “thank yous” they receive from the runners are experiences that only volunteers can enjoy and joys unique to volunteers. Some volunteers felt happy when they received “Perfect!” when they guided a foreign runner in English, so they got motivated to study English. Through these encounters with people who they might not otherwise meet in their daily lives, volunteers can experience a sense of fulfillment and self-actualization that’s hard to find elsewhere.

 

–The Tokyo Marathon Foundation has set a vision of “the Tokyo Marathon, the best marathon in the world, held in Tokyo, the best city in the world.” based on three pillars: “The safest and most secure race in the world,” “The most exciting race in the world,” and “The warmest and most friendly race in the world”  Please tell us the thoughts of the Volunteer Division on this and how the Division plans to achieve it?

  Of these three pillars, we especially want to realize “the warmest and most friendly race in the world” through the power of volunteers. As a means to provide a place where “anyone, anywhere can take pride in supporting the event,” we have implemented VOLUNTAINER Junior, which even elementary and junior high school students can participate in, and started recruiting overseas volunteers to accompany overseas runners since the 2024 event, but we feel that this is still just a milestone. As we move toward the 20th race, we would like to expand this initiative and diversify our activities, while also providing an opportunity to express our gratitude to the volunteers who have supported the event so far, and work toward a “warm and friendly race” that connects history and the future.

Also, many of the VOLUNTAINERs are full of ideas and humor, so we would like to work together to create and promote events, and I believe that getting to know the world will help you see what it means to be the “best in the world,” so I would like to have a VOLUNTAINER group participate in an overseas world marathon major (Abbott World Marathon Majors), of which the Tokyo Marathon is a member.

 

The desire for VOLUNTAINER to be a comfortable place where you can always return to

–What does the Tokyo Marathon mean to you? #MyTokyoMarathon is…?

 My Tokyo Marathon is happiness of supporting each other. 

We often hear stories from volunteers like, “I thought I was the one cheering on the runners, but their ‘thank yous’ ended up cheering me on,” and “I received 38,000 thank yous.” By actively supporting volunteering, volunteers receive so much gratitude and appreciation in return. It creates a wonderful cycle – “I want to volunteer again!” or “I’ll try my best again tomorrow!” and gives them joy and energy, which leads to happiness. I feel fortunate to work in such an environment, where I try to support people, but it turns out I’m the one being supported, and I want to continue working to make this happiness felt by many others.

 

–Please share with us about any other thoughts about the Tokyo Marathon.

 When I applied to join the Foundation, I wrote that I wanted the Tokyo Marathon to be like a “home” for VOLUNTAINERs. Usually, everyone volunteers in their hometowns and other places, but just like families gather at their parents’ homes during the New Year holidays, there is a place where people can gather once a year called the Tokyo Marathon. And when people participate, they meet someone they know, which makes them feel relieved and makes them smile. That was my desire to make the Tokyo Marathon a place where everyone can feel at home. That desire remains strong today, and I want VOLUNTAINER to be a warm and comfortable place where people feel connected and always have a place to return to.

 

For more information about VOLUNTAINER

Leader Support* 1 For more information, please click here

Leader*2 For more information, please click here

For more information on the Tokyo Marathon Foundation Official Volunteer Club VOLUNTAINER, please click here