Durable trail runners?

Long urban hike in Japan sounds awesome.  Sign me up!

I’ve been hiking primarily on-trail with Hoka One One Rapa Nui 2 Trail-Running Shoes, but I wouldn’t call them durable.  They are showing a lot of wear on the sole and sides, but seem to be still functional in all ways, and I’m continuing to hike with them.  They are super cushioned.  I wear custom orthotics, which replace the removable insole to help with my over-pronation.

I liked these so much I got a pair of Hoka One One Challenger ATR Trail-Running Shoes, which were the newer versions REI was selling on a clearance.  They are still new in the box, but I plan to switch over to them soon for urban hikes, and will decide if I keep the old ones for the trail.  I think Hoka One One has an even newer model.

To me the comfort is king.  I get the stability from my orthotics, and when on-trail I don’t care about the looks.  When I go on vacation with the family this summer, my wife won’t like me wearing my old ratty trail shoes.

They’re not really runners, but I’ve been doing a lot of scrambling/bushwacking with merrell capra sport’s.  So far they’ve been very durable.  Just have to make sure you don’t get the waterproof version :)

If your shoes wear out you can just walk into a store and buy new ones. You might not recognize all the same brands but you should be able to find something that works for you.

In my opinion, the Saucony Xodus are fairly durable trailrunners with a good sole.

I put them trough a lot last year (6 to 7 trips, one month of hiking in total) and they’re still (rather) usable. I use them for training at the moment.
There’s a small hole in the mesh at the toes but that’s totally my own fault.

Probably more minimal that you’re looking for, but I’ve been wearing my Trail Glove 3’s every day for a year, for work, hiking, running, etc. with surprisingly minimal wear. Most of the wear has been to the 2 layers of fabric over the non-removable insole – I started to wear holes under my heel and big toes pretty quickly and they’ve become larger over time, but I don’t notice when the shoe is on.   The outsoles show some wear on lugs, and a few spots along the sides show some separating between upper and outsole but not enough to need repair.  Usually wearing down the outsole heel has been the factor requiring me to buy new shoes, but switching to minimalist shoes several years ago fixed that – it doesn’t feel good to scuff my foot or heel at all, so my walking and running style has automatically changed to reduce wear on the outsole.  My only complaint at this point is the that the insole is not removable and replaceable.

it is easy to buy good trail runners from Amazon Japan’s webstore and have the shoes delivered to the nearest convenience shop where you can just pick them up.

What Kim says – with a caveat. Check first because if you have a bigger foot, larger than 28cm (≈44EU, ≈10US) you could be out of luck. This is often the case in normal stores as well, but there they can then sometimes (not always) get the shoes from somewhere else. This would take time of course, but perhaps they could forward to a convenience store further up trail.

Amazon often doesn’t have the sizes above 28cm though. Some models also are not carried at all in larger sizes in Japan. It is now better than 15 years ago, but it can still be an issue, depending of course. Plenty of times I have ordered from Amazon US because of this.

Again, agree with what Kim says – if you fall in the general size range. If not, double check availability in Japan.

Have fun road walking.