The link about how he aborted the race is well worth reading. From Wikipedia: Kanakuri pulled out midway through the race and was cared for by a local family.

The link about how he aborted the race is well worth reading. From Wikipedia: Kanakuri pulled out midway through the race and was cared for by a local family. Embarrassed from his "failure", he silently returned to Japan without notifying race officials. Although local newspapers at the time correctly reported that Kanakuri withdrew halfway through the race, the fact that Kanakuri had not officially reported back after doing so gave birth to humorous stories in Sweden about the supposedly lost Japanese runner. In 1967, he was contacted by Swedish Television and offered the opportunity to complete his run. He accepted and completed the marathon, remarking,"Kanaguri of Japan is now in the goal. Time, 54 years and 8 months 6 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20 seconds 3, which will end the entire schedule of the 5th Stockholm Olympic Games," was announced. He commented "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren."