[1] The Japanese government did not want to embarrass itself on an international stage by saying no, so the Ministry of Education was told to look into this.

The Ministry turned to Kanō Jigorō, the founder of modern judo, with recent experience in Europe.

Kanō, after talking to the French ambassador to Japan and reading pamphlets sent by the Swedes, developed, in his words, "a fairly good idea of what the Olympic Games were"[2] and agreed to become a member of the International Olympic Committee.

However, the necessary funding was still not forthcoming, so in 1912, Kanō helped establish the Japan Amateur Athletic Association (Dai Nippon Tai-iku Kyokai), of which he became president.

Kanakuri abandoned the marathon due to the heat; because he never notified race officials before returning to Japan, Swedish authorities considered him missing for 50 years before discovering that he was living in Japan oblivious to his status in Sweden.