Are you FIT for Charity? Japan

Not ones to shy away from a challenge or from fundraising, our office signed up to participate in the FIT for Charity run in Tokyo.

Could you run 10km in sweltering temperatures?

On the 17^th November, a bright and sunny Sunday morning, our Japan team got up and out of their beds early to join 8,769 runners at Tokyo’s Kasumigaoka National Stadium to run for FIT for Charity. This year a new record was set for the charity with an astonishing JPY71,161,027 (TBC) raised for local causes. For those of you not familiar with Japanese Yen, that’s the equivalent to £433,358 or €518,154.95!

The FIT for Charity Run was started in 2005 by a group of finance and financial-related companies in Tokyo, that were prompted by the devastating 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami to do something meaningful for the community. Funds raised from the Charity Run are distributed to local community organisations, which serve important but not necessarily well-recognised or understood needs.

As well as raising money and to encourage financial service’s firms to make a positive and long standing contribution to their community, the purpose of this run is to encourage firms to work alongside each other and to build lasting relationships.

Our consultants took part in the 10km run, the 5 km run, and the 2.5 km walk, which were held at the National Stadium, which will be the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Read Yoshiki Kumazawa's account of taking part in the FIT for Charity run on our Japanese website and head over to our flickr page to see the consultants in action!