We brought along our super cooler for supplies and it proved to be a smart move. I had to take a picture of it among all the old lady bag trolley thingies-
The arena from a distance-
Stepping off the train was like being herded cattle but after some spreading out on the sidewalks and such it became much more normal as we got closer-
Super cooler!
The place is new(er) and much larger than I had imagined. It is HUGE.
This is the area where horses are trotted around to be viewed-
Number 6's name is Ninja. Badass. He even had the kanji and a picture of a throwing star groomed into his rump.
This was a side of horse racing I hadn't expected. At least in Japan. Old guys everywhere, camped out on newspapers with pornographic images.
Outside was beautiful and again, HUGE-
It seemed that 90% of the people there were pretty serious about betting. Betting cards littered the floor everywhere and people were yelling at the finish of every race. Conveniently, they have great betting machines that take all the fun out of talking to someone when placing a bet.
The sound at the end of each race was extraordinary! People were standing, jumping, pounding on chairs and their friend's heads. Insanity. I believe this was when I found out my camera was slowly dying and couldn't take videos. Bummer.
I could at least take photos to show that I could still fit in the seats-
The first race had the aforementioned Ninja in it. I just had to bet on him because of his badass name. I tried. I really did. But, it being my first time to a horse race, with the betting cards in Japanese, I didn't make it in time. I would have won over $100 on the lowest bet. CRAP!
I still managed to come out on top by betting on a horse with "Burlington" in it's name :) It was a fun day but soon it was all over. No more yelling. No more beers. No more old guys. Still lots of newspapers though.
1 comments:
That is a huge race track, and yes it is a big deal for them, it is always pack with people.
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