India, March 30 -- It started as a way to bring life back to a quiet shopping street. Seventeen years later, it is a national championship spread across more than 20 Japanese cities-where teams of three race standard office chairs around a circuit for two hours straight, cover over 20 kilometres on their legs alone, and compete for prizes measured in kilograms of rice. The Isu-1 Grand Prix is entirely real, entirely serious, and just held its latest race in Kyotanabe on March 29.

What Is the Isu-1 Grand Prix and Where Did It Come From?

Tsuyoshi Tahara founded the sport in 2009 in Kyotanabe, a small city in Kyoto Prefecture, with the modest goal of revitalizing a local shopping arcade. The concept was simple: grab an office chair, sit do...