JapanNewbie

Horse Racing in Tokyo

Posted on 24. Nov, 2006 @ 3:05 pm by harvey in Culture, Society, Tokyo

What’s going on in this picture?

If the title of the post didn’t give it away, this is a shot of the inside of the horse racing track at Fuchu Honmachi in Tokyo.

The people in the picture are watching the score board which shows live video of the races going on outside, supplemented with data on odds, for the gamblers. Everyone is studying the details on the horses and their riders, and decided where to place their money on the future races. The lowest bid at this G1 race was 10 yen, so it is easy to join in the fun even casually.

Outside, things are a little more lively. I have never been to horse racing anywhere else, so maybe there is nothing especially Japanese about this… (doubtful though) But the atmosphere reminded me of a baseball game. Beer, snacks, and chatty fans. Also, during the last race everyone rolls up their newspapers and claps with them in unison.

It only costs 200 yen to get into the stadium, and all of the stadium seating is the same price. Unless you arrive extremely early, it’s near impossible to get a seat during the big G1 event though. The good thing is, it doesn’t matter if you can get a seat or not. Down in front of the stands there is a wide paved area, where many viewers lay out newspapers and sit on the pavement, picnic style. When races they are interested in begin, they’ll stand up and hold on to their wallets.

Because the track is so wide, it’s impossible to get a view of the horses during the entire race, so there is a giant video screen on display so you can keep up with the race when the horses are out of sight.

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The gambling process was pretty interesting.

In various places inside of the stadium you’ll find these tickets. (You can also find them all over the floor…) You pick up as many as you need, and you fill in the bubble sheet according to which horse, in which race, in which method, and for how much you want to bet.

There are many different ways to bet, for example 単勝 たんしょう “tanshou”, in which you bet on a single horse that you believe will get first place. Or you can bet 複勝 ふくしょう “fukusyou” in which you can bet that a horse will get first, second, or third place. Of course, the higher the probability that your horse will match your bet, the lower the pay out.

After filling out your ticket you bring it to a automatic ticket machine, that looks like a train station ticket machine. You place your ticket into the machine, along with the money you plan to bet, and the machine gives you another ticket as shown above.

You hang on to that ticket, and after the race results are decided, you can bring this ticket to yet another automatic ticket machine, and it will give you your payout.

Pretty cool huh?

I bet 100 yen on the final race, fukusyou, and my horse got first…

The horse was a favorite however, so I only got 240 yen pay out… Didn’t even cover my train ticket cost back home!

On a cultural note, one of my Japanese friends mentioned that though gambling itself isn’t such a healthy hobby, horse racing is much more healthy than pachinko… Because you can go outside and watch the races, rather than sitting in smoke filled pachiko parlor.

- Harvey