PlanetSKI Continues Tour of Japan however Away from the Slopes

twenty sixth February 2025

We’re heading to the ski areas round Furano, inland into Hokkaido. By way of some horse racing, chicken watching and customarily experiencing issues that some ski vacationers miss out on. NEW

Now, don’t get us fallacious as at PlanetSKI – we do what it says on the tin.

We go snowboarding:

Hakuba Valley, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

PlanetSKI in Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

Happo One, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

However on a visit to Japan there may be a lot else to expertise:

Natadera Temple. Picture © PlanetSKI

After which there may be Tokyo:

Tokyo, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

We’re at the moment on the northern island of Hokkaido heading to the inland resorts round Furano, from our base of the final two weeks in Sapporo.

Appears time for the distinctive expertise of Banei horse racing.

Obihiro, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

And viewing the favorite chicken of Japan, the crane, in its pure habitat.

Kushiro, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

And some different websites beside as we throw ourselves totally into the Japan expertise away from the standard vacationer trails.

We’ve seen the powder hit the Pacific in Kushiro.

Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

With the solar setting over the port metropolis.

Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

We’ve pushed mile after mile nosing round Hokkaido with the mountains an ever-present backdrop.

Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

And located time for some fabulous meals at eating places few westerners go to as we’re off the principle vacationer path.

Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

First up, is a few Hokkaido Banei horse racing.

Horse Racing in Obihiro

Nothing fairly ready for me for the Banei horse racing expertise.

It’s not like something I had seen earlier than, or probably ever to see once more.

The horses are bred from livestock and race towards one another pulling the burden of what they might have been pulling on the farms.

As we speak most farming is finished by equipment however the custom of racing continues the place the energy of the horse is what’s measured.

It’s the solely race of its form on the earth.

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

At 2pm sharp the primary race started.

The horses race in a straight line of 200m with two obstacles – one is 1m excessive and the opposite is 1.6m.

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

The horses pull a heavy sledge with a really enthusiastic driver.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

Complete weight of the sledge and driver is 450kilos – the equal weight of a totally grown brown bear or a concert-sized grand piano.

Generally they pull a sledge with the burden of as much as a ton.

It was nothing wanting extraordinary.

One of many fundamental races of the day was the fourth one, D4.

Listed here are the runners and riders.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

Hokusei ZenicoMi Yabi PowerBreak a-KanI Wakie TiaraJ TimeCristle OveAmon Reech

Place your bets.

The betting was studied at first, after which went up a gear or two to a frantic degree because the race approached and the numbers modified.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Picture © PlanetSKI

Sit again and watch this – it isn’t the 14.30 from Kempton Park on a Wednesday afternoon:

They usually’re off.

The horses relaxation a number of occasions to collect their energy.

Then round two and a half minutes later they attain the end line the place they’re thought of to have accomplished the race when the again of the sledge crosses the road.

To my eyes the whipping and the battle the horses put in raises the difficulty of animal welfare.

However then maybe I ought to view it as a Hokkaido custom and choose it for what it’s.

The horses maybe look no completely different from a weight-lifter going for the ultimate push, or a marathon runner that had hit ‘the wall’ with legs turning to jelly.

“They’ve very thick pores and skin and don’t really feel the whip as ache,” I used to be advised by a race supporter as I questioned the animal welfare.

“Because the horses enter the beginning gates, they’re excited to race and might’t wait to get going.

“They know the problem forward and after they can’t handle it they only cease.

“It’s like husky canine pulling a heavy sledge in heavy snow, it’s what nature deigned them for.

“These horses are designed to tug heavy weights and that’s what they do.”

Such racing has been happening for over 100 years on Hokkaido and at the moment there are 154 days of racing per 12 months at Obihiro.

They happen on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Round 1,000 folks prove every day and entrance is free.

There was once 15 race programs on Hokkaido, now the one at Obihiro is the one one left.

The ski resort of Tomamu is about an hour away by automobile and Furano round 2 hours.

When you ski in both, our advice is that you simply discover time to return to Obihiro.

It’s a distinctive expertise – sporting or in any other case.

The new canine are fairly good too.

The primary occasion of the racing season, the Banei Memorial Race, takes place within the first week of March in the direction of the tip of the ski season and attracts 5,000 race goers.

PlanetSKI’s subsequent cease as we take a break from the slopes is a few chicken watching as we view the cranes of their pure habitat within the marshlands of Kushiro and 100kms or so from Obihiro.

The PlanetSKI Japan ski journey is taking a relaxation from the slopes and is all the higher for it.

Japan simply retains on giving.

Do verify again….

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