So we pay 200 yen to get in ($2) and soon realize that we are the only foreigners in the whole place. I've gotten pretty used to feeling like the minority, but usually in a crowd of about 7,000 people there will be at least 50 foreigners or so, but not here. 7,000 Japanese, and 5 foreigners. Lucky most of them were way too concerned with betting money too give us glaring eyes.
So here is how horse racing works. You go to the back and look at the horses and the odds, pick the ones you want, and make a bet. Well it works a little different in Japan, because all of the odds, the horses names, and the betting sheets are completely in Japanese. So the first couple of races it was my two friends who speak Japanese and one of their girlfriends helping me and my friends Shawn (we both have 0% Japanese ability) to make our bets.
It was about 90% Japanese businessmen.
So after about 4 races we started to feel pretty comfortable betting, even though the card was completely in Japanese. Shawn and I both can't really order food, or talk about the weather, but we now know how to place a superfecta box, and a place, show, win bet on any horse.
I think by the end we were actually telling Robbie's girlfriend how to bet, even though she's the one who speaks Japanese. Kind of like how sometimes when I'm with a group I all of a sudden take on the navigator role, even though I don't speak Japanese. Yeah I guess its just part of our genetic makeup to know how to navigate and bet on horse races.
But hey I'm sure most of my lower level female students can still talk about their feelings in English better than I can...
Of course they had to put a shinto shrine in the middle of the track.
A view of the crowd.
For the whole day I think I won about $.20.
I'd like to go back one day when it isn't raining.
2 comments:
the comment about japanese girls talking about their feelings in English better than you part was hilarious!
Keep up the good work.
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