Kenya's Joseph Riri won the Lake Biwa Marathon on Sunday, edging defending champion Jose Rios of Spain by three seconds.
Michitaka Hosokawa finished third to secure a place in this summer's world championships, while Athens Olympic bronze medalist Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil retired from the race.
Riri pulled away from Rios with 1 km remaining and finished the 42.195-km race in 2 hours and 9 minutes.
Rios finished in 2:09:03 while Hosokawa clocked a time of 2:09:10.
De Lima, who made his first appearance since the race in Athens last summer, failed to keep up with the pace and stopped running after 32 km with an apparent abdominal problem. He tried to run again but eventually retired near the 33-km point.