Former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman performed at the opening ceremony of this year's Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 6. The Tokyo Marathon 2022, one of the biggest marathons in Japan, ran through Tokyo's tourist sites, accommodating recreational runners and world's best elite runners. It was the first Tokyo Marathon in two years, as the 2021 edition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its theme, "The Day We Unite.", the Tokyo Marathon brings together runners, volunteers and spectators. Marty shared video of him performing at this year's event, and he included the following message: "Just played the Opening Ceremony at the Tokyo Marathon! This is my 4th year doing it, but today I played 3 times as the runners spread out their starting times into 3 groups. After many postponements, to see the marathon back up and running (pun intended) was a wonderful and positive sight to see!" This year's Tokyo Marathon was won by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, the two-time Olympic marathon champion and world-record holder, who came in first with a time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the fourth-fastest marathon in history. Kipchoge has now won 14 marathons overall, including nine World Marathon Major events and two Olympic marathons. Marty's presence in the world of music, the world of guitar and Japanese pop culture is mystifying, bizarre, and nothing short of inspiring. His first major impact in music was in the game-changing guitar duo CACOPHONY, which he founded with equally enigmatic and now-legendary guitarist Jason Becker. He then spent 10 years as lead guitarist in the genre-defining thrash metal act MEGADETH before moving to Tokyo due to his love for Japanese music, language, and culture. Following his move, he landed a starring role for a new TV comedy "Hebimeta-san" ("Mr. Heavy Metal") and its spinoff, "Rock Fujiyama", which ran for six seasons and propelled him into the living rooms of Japan's mainstream. He has since appeared in over 800 TV shows, movies and commercials, including a two-year campaign with Coca-Cola for Fanta, authored two best-selling novels and was the first-ever foreigner to be appointed as an ambassador of Japan heritage and perform at the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Marathon in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. At the same time, Marty has continued his career in music with several solo albums in addition to writing and performing with the top artists in Japanese music, racking up countless chart hits, including a No. 1 with SMAP, two No. 2 songs with MOMOIRO CLOVER, a No. 2 with SOUND HORIZON — just to name a few.
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Just played the Opening Ceremony at the Tokyo Marathon! This is my 4th year doing it, but today I played 3 times as the runners spread out their starting times into 3 groups. After many postponements, to see the marathon back up and running (pun intended) was a wonderful and positive sight to see! Posted by Marty Friedman on Saturday, March 5, 2022
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