The Tokyo Marathon is adding a nonbinary category for runners in 2025, making it the last of the six World Major Marathons to add the option.
“We aim to create a more inclusive society through Tokyo Marathon 2025, and will promote sustainability efforts aimed at creating a warm and friendly event that takes into consideration people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ (sexual minorities) in particular,” the Tokyo Marathon Foundation said in a press release on Monday, June 24.
Beginning next year, runners entering the marathon’s general entry category will have the option of selecting “non-binary” from the application’s gender selection category. According to the press release, the Tokyo Marathon Foundation will also provide gender-neutral bathrooms and changing rooms and will offer seminars on “LGBTQ+ issues” for marathon volunteers and administrators.
The other five World Major Marathons — Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York — added their own nonbinary running categories between 2021 and 2023. Of the six marathons, New York is currently the first and only World Major Marathon that awards prize money to nonbinary runners. Since these categories have been introduced, there’s been a slow uptick in nonbinary competitors year over year. The number of nonbinary runners in 2023’s New York Marathon rose from 45 in 2022 to 96 in 2023. Likewise, the number of Chicago Marathon nonbinary runners increased from an estimate of 70 in 2022 to 91 in 2023. Meanwhile, the London Marathon hosted 118 nonbinary runners in 2023 and the Boston Marathon hosted 27 that same year. In 2025, the Tokyo Marathon anticipates a total field size of 38,000 runners across categories.
As nonbinary runners have pointed out, simply introducing a nonbinary checkbox is just one of the many steps required for full inclusion in the competition; advocates continue to call for the qualification process and other entry requirements to be made easier for nonbinary athletes to navigate.
Nonetheless, this news comes during an era in which LGBTQ+ rights in Japan have seen incremental but consequential progress. In March of this year, a Japanese high court found that current restrictions on same-sex marriage — which restricts legal marriage to heterosexual couples — are unconstitutional. Last year, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that transgender people will no longer need to undergo sterilizing surgery in order to receive legal recognition as their lived gender.
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