Osaka, Japan · Rookie
Shut Out of the 2027 Osaka Marathon Lottery? Charity Entries Stay Open Until October 19
Results of the general lottery for the 2027 Osaka Marathon go out by email on September 28, 2026. Miss out, and first-come, first-served charity entries remain open until 5 p.m. on October 19; if you apply from outside Japan, you pay everything in one transaction, with no fundraising. First-timers should also weigh the 7-hour time limit and the 93.7 percent finish rate in 2026.
Does missing the lottery mean waiting another year? Results for the 28,420 general-entry spots in the 2027 Osaka Marathon land in applicants’ inboxes on Monday, September 28, 2026.
In Osaka, a rejection doesn’t end the calculation. Separate from the lottery, the race offers 1,000 charity entries on a first-come, first-served basis, and that window stays open for 21 days after results go out, until 5 p.
m. on October 19.
The Tokyo Marathon, held the same spring, closed charity applications on July 9, so by the time its general lottery results came out on September 18, the lottery was the only way in. Some runners end up in Osaka after missing Tokyo.
A runner from the Sunny Side Singapore channel who ran the 2026 race said afterward: “This was secondary to Tokyo Marathon. If I had gotten Tokyo Marathon then I wouldn’t be here, but Tokyo Marathon, the ballot is incredibly hard.”
In 2027 the two races are again a week apart: Osaka on February 28, Tokyo on March 7.
Osaka, Japan
1Osaka Marathon Lottery Results Arrive by Email September 28—and More Acceptances May Follow
General entry opened at 10 a.m. on July 28, 2026, and closed at 5 p.
m. on August 28. Individuals and groups of two to seven competed for the same 28,420 spots, with a lottery if applications exceeded the cap.
Applications went through RUNNET in Japan and JTB Sports Station outside Japan. Does an acceptance email guarantee a spot? Your entry is confirmed only once you pay by the deadline stated in the email.
The individual entry fee is ¥16,000, or $145 when applying from outside Japan. On top of that, you must buy at least two charity contributions at ¥500 each ($5 each from outside Japan), and a processing fee is added to the total: 6 percent in Japan, 11 percent outside Japan. The minimum comes to ¥18,020, or about $172 from outside Japan.
The race rules include one more line, in parentheses: supplementary selections may be announced depending on circumstances. A rejection email may not be the last email you get from this race.
Osaka Marathon 2027Sun, February 28, 2027 · D-149 · Osaka, JapanSee race details
Osaka, Japan
2Charity Runners Applying From Outside Japan Pay Everything Up Front—No Fundraising Required
The race accepts 1,000 charity runners from inside and outside Japan combined, first come, first served, with no lottery. Applications opened July 28, 2026, and the deadline is the same inside and outside Japan. Entries close earlier if all spots are filled.
From outside Japan, the process is shorter. You apply through JTB Sports Station, the same platform used for general entry, and skip the fundraising site used by applicants in Japan. At registration, you pay the $145 entry fee, a donation of at least $475, and two $5 charity contributions in one go.
Those three amounts total $630, and the processing fee is 11 percent of the payment. The donation goes to one of 30 organizations designated by the race. For 2027, they range from the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University (CiRA), to a child-care support group in Osaka’s Nishinari ward.
The Osaka Sports Support Runner category is open only to applicants in Japan, and the Citizen Athlete category and the 10K & Fun RUN package are already full. For runners outside Japan, charity entry is the only first-come, first-served route left after the lottery.
Osaka, Japan
3Charity Applicants in Japan Must Raise ¥70,000—and Any Shortfall Hits Their Card
For applicants in Japan, entry depends on fundraising. You pick a charity, register on the fundraising site, and make your own initial donation of ¥1,000. Then you ask family and friends to give, reaching a total of ¥70,000 by 11:59 p.
m. on December 15. The ¥16,000 entry fee is separate.
What if you fall short? The balance is charged automatically to the credit card registered on the fundraising site. The race guidelines give this example: raise ¥9,000, and your card is charged ¥60,000.
Once you make that initial ¥1,000 donation, cancellations aren’t accepted, and you can’t change the charity or the amount. No one else may run in your place, even if illness or injury keeps you out. The harshest rule comes at the final step.
If the charge for the balance fails because the card is over its limit or has expired, you can’t run, and neither the donations raised so far nor the entry fee is refunded.
Osaka, Japan
4800 Osaka Sports Support Runner Spots for a ¥100,000 Furusato Nozei Donation
Applicants in Japan have one more first-come, first-served route. Donate at least ¥100,000 through Japan’s furusato nozei (hometown tax donation) system to either the Osaka Prefecture Namihaya Sports Promotion Fund or the Osaka City Sports Promotion Fund, and you get one race entry. The field is capped at 800 runners, 400 through each fund.
The process has two deadlines. Donation applications close first, at 5 p.m.
on October 5. Once the donation is confirmed, you receive a dedicated URL and an entry code, and you must use that code to register by 5 p.m.
on October 19. The ¥16,000 entry fee is separate here, too. Donate but forget to register, and you have no race entry.
The Osaka City fund comes with one trap. On the donation page, you must choose “Osaka Sports Support Runner (Osaka Marathon)” as the project category. Pick anything else and the same ¥100,000 donation comes without a race entry.
Osaka, Japan
5The 1,500 Citizen Athlete Spots Were Gone by July 28
Other routes opened and closed before the lottery. If you’re targeting the 2028 race, your calendar starts here. Citizen Athlete registration opened at 10 a.
m. on July 27, one day before general registration, and closed at 5 p.m.
on July 28, by which time all 1,500 spots were gone. Entry was first come, first served, but it required a qualifying time run on or after August 1, 2024, on a course certified by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations or AIMS. For ages 18 to 39, the standards were 3:00 for men and 3:45 for women.
They loosen with age, down to 4:30 for men and 5:20 for women 70 and older. The spots weren’t limited to Osaka residents. The 10K & Fun RUN package also closed after filling its 200 spots.
For ¥20,000, it bundled the 10K race at Yanmar Stadium Nagai on October 25, 2026, with entry to the Osaka Marathon 2027. If your time makes the cut, Osaka registration starts, as it did for 2027, with Citizen Athlete entry at 10 a.m.
on July 27.
Osaka, Japan
6Osaka for a First Marathon: 93.7% Finished Even at 21.4°C
An Osaka-based runner ran his first marathon with his wife at the 2026 race. In a recap on his YouTube channel, OsakaMiles, he said his goal was to break five hours; he would do his best, and if it didn’t happen, so be it. Osaka was warm that day.
He recalled that “the temperature was going to be 20° and everyone, including myself, was nervous.” The actual high was 21.4°C (about 71°F), more than 9 degrees Celsius above the normal high of 12.1°C (about 54°F) for the date. The couple walked some stretches and crossed the finish line in about 5:50.
Official figures show 32,739 starters and 30,680 finishers in the marathon that day, a 93.7 percent finish rate. His take on the course: “The course is beginner friendly. There’s a couple hills here and there, but it is such a nice course.”
The time limit is 7 hours. Wave 1 starts at 9:15 a.m.
, and the finish closes at 4:15 p.m. The 2026 race had 10 cutoffs; the last, at 41.4K, closed at 4:07 p.
m. He said he started in the third wave, at around 9:45 a.m.
Start at 9:45 a.m., and you have 6 hours and 22 minutes to reach the 41.4K cutoff.
Osaka, Japan
7Bib Pickup Ends at 6 p.m. February 27 at INTEX Osaka Hall 6
Whether you got in through the lottery or a charity entry, there’s one more step before the start line. Runner check-in and bib pickup take place at INTEX Osaka Hall 6 on just two days: February 26, 2027, from 11 a.m.
to 7 p.m., and February 27 from 10 a.
m. to 6 p.m.
There’s no race-day pickup; you must come in person with ID, and no one can collect your bib for you. Race morning takes time, too. A runner from the RunBry channel said that after bag drop, “there’s about a 30 minute walk up towards the Osaka Castle and then towards the start line.
So, please go ahead and budget that in.” Runners had to be in their corrals about 15 minutes before the start, and the changing rooms close at 8:30 a.m.
The OsakaMiles runner arrived at 7:30 a.m. and still had trouble finding where to drop his bag.
His advice: “Bring a map. They give you one usually at the expo.” February 27, 6 p.
m. That’s your real deadline for getting to Osaka.
Editor's pick
If you’re applying from outside Japan, the question is money: a $145 entry fee, a donation of at least $475, $10 in charity contributions, plus an 11 percent processing fee. If you can pay all of it at once before 5 p.m.
on October 19, go the charity route. It’s now the only way to lock in a spot on the 2027 Osaka start line without going through the lottery. If you’re applying in Japan, there are two questions.
Do you have people who will help you raise ¥70,000? If not, can you cover it yourself? If the answer to both is no, charity entry isn’t for you.
Come up short on fundraising and the difference is charged to your card; if that charge fails, you lose both the money you’ve paid and your spot. If neither route works, treat 2027 as a year to wait for a supplementary selection email and work on a qualifying time for the 2028 race. For runners nervous about a first marathon, a 7-hour time limit and a 93.7 percent finish rate are numbers worth waiting a year for.
Three dates to put on your calendar: the payment deadline in your acceptance email, the charity-entry deadline of 5 p.m.
on October 19, and the bib-pickup deadline of 6 p.m.
on February 27, 2027.
Entry period · Accommodation
| Races | Itinerary | Entry period | INFO. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Osaka Marathon 2027 | Sun, February 28, 2027 | Tue, July 28, 2026 ~ Fri, August 28, 2026 | Accommodation · See race details |
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