April 30	Home	Calender	Map	Japanese	May 2

May 1

Takeo Keirin / Another Night at Takeo YH

Mitsuru and I both got up early, and he wasn't in a rush to go anywhere, so he joined me in going to see Takeo Keirin races. He's never been to Keirin before, so I got to introduce him to it.

What is Keirin? Keirin is basically like horse racing (which is called Keiba in Japanese). Betting on Horse Racing is legal in most parts, if not all, of Japan. Keirin is like that, only instead of betting on horses, you bet on bicycles. Keirin tracks are basically velodrome tracks, those olympic-style oval tracks with the banked walls. I've been to a few Keirin tracks in Japan so far: Kawasaki, Seibuen, Gifu, and Matsusaka. So, while on this tour, I figured I'd hit some more! Armed with my Japan-Keirin map, and a schedule for races in May, I started planning for this over a week ago.

The Keirin schedule that I have shows the Takeo racing days in red (I actually don't know what this means, but only 3 tracks in all Japan are in red). I thought this would mean that the races would be big or important. In fact, Takeo is probably the smallest and most sparesly populated track I've been to. ("Who populates a Keirin track?", you ask. The absolute majority are old men who have nothing better to do than lose their money at the tracks, and yell at the racers when they lose)

So, Mitsuru and I watched a race or two, and then he went on his way. I went back to the Keirin track. This was the third of 4 days or races, and at the front entrance they were actually giving little envelopes. It was kinda like a contest where you could win Keirin crap (e.g. clocks, pens, etc.) You know I was excited. It costs 50 yen to get into the race track, so instead of actually betting on cyclists, I just kept paying 50 yen to go through the turnstiles. I would go in, lose, and then leave and go in again. I spent around 300 yen ($2.50) this way. I didn't win any prizes, but I did make some friends of the ladies who were working the front area. We started talking, and after showing them my broken Takeo Keirin phone strap, one promised to give me a replacement if I came the next day. Also, the next day they planned to give out free keychains!

At the track itself, I talked for a long while to some ojiisan (old man) who was betting on horses, and learned more about keirin terms and such. I also learned that the "red" on my Keirin schedule just means that you are allowed to bet more money. Figures.

After Keirin I went to the supermarket, got some food and headed to the YH. At the YH I met another biker, named Noguchi. He had been traveling around Kyushuu and each night he buys a locally made brand of shouju. That is: Japanese liquor made from some kind of potato. So, the night before he finished his last bottle by himself. Tonight, I joined him, as did a father-son pair who turned out are pottery makers from Kita-Kyushuu, in the north. Stayed up until pretty late just talking (um, and drinking, too).