THIS 256-MILE RACE IS HARD. EARNING A SPOT IS DOWNRIGHT BRUTAL.

The yearslong qualification process for the Trans Japan Alps Race is merciless, but organizers say it ensures that all participants will reach the finish line alive.

- SCOTT YORKO

My life is getting shorter," says Naomasa Kimura over a fried pork cutlet rice bowl drizzled in a sweet and savory sauce. "It's too much. I promised my wife this is the last time I try... It's a touchy subject." The 41-year-old inventory manager at a tractor company in Osaka is sitting at a cramped restaurant table with five other men eating the same dish in the lush, wooded town of Komagane in the valley splitting Japan's Southern and Central Alps.

It's a cool, damp June evening, and cheery garden gnomes are perched on a windowsill holding tools and politely observing the conversation. Most of the men are rail-thin with muscular legs, and several are wearing T-shirts from 100-mile races. They've each run a sub-3:20 marathon in the past year (most sub-3:00), a feat that satisfies one of the many prerequisites to even be invited to tomorrow's Athlete Selection Event, a two-day qualifier for the biennial Trans Japan Alps Race (TJAR) in August. The encyclopedic rabbit hole of entry requirements and necessary physical achievements is so demanding and convoluted that qualifying for one of the 30 spots in the actual race might be more impressive, and dangerous, than finishing it.

Roughly 70 applicants submitted documentation of their attempts to meet the requirements, which among many other things, included camping at least 10 nights above 6,562 feet (2,000 meters) and completing a race with an event time cutoff of 25 hours or more in less than 60 percent of that time. With 60 available spots, 59 runners gained entry to the two-day trial and were informed one month in advance.