Japanese seem to love rankings of all kinds and while is not the strangest, it’s certainly… unique.  Participants in long distance marathon, Hakone Ekiden, chose their favorite female celebrities. How did you favorite Japanese idols do?

This is not quite as funny as the hardest poop ranking, but easily just as meaningless!  The sample size doesn’t seem too large, as the #1 spot only got 18 votes.  How did the 48-groups do this round?

The top placement of any 48-group member?  Yamamoto Sayaka, at #14.  The next member to appear is Oshima Yuko at #22 (though she is technically graduated, does that count?).

One big thing to note is that members of Nogizaka46 did extremely well:

• #9: Nishino Nanase
• #14: Hashimoto Nanami
• #28: Ikuta Erika, Kitano Hinako, Shiraishi Mai
• A few others appeared, but all tied for last place at #70 (receiving only one vote each): Etou Misa, Fukugawa Mai, Hoshino Minami, Hori Miona.

Could this be an indication of popularity in the general public?  Commentators on 2ch are quick to suggest the decline of AKB wota in recent years:

Regardless, it seems the popular of marathon runners and wota do no overlap!