See the Boat Racing In Japan for a New and Exciting Experience!

Most people don't associate Japan with gambling. This is probably because there are no casinos here and there are enough tourist spots in this country to entice visitors to return to Japan again and again, or at least keep them occupied during their stay. Even if there were casinos, I'm not sure how popular they'd be among tourists since most people come to Japan to experience the food and the culture.

One thing that I have noticed, living here for many years, is that gambling is a part of the modern day Japanese culture. If you think of how many Pachinko parlours there are (there seems to be one on every corner in areas near major stations), it's way more than the casino ratio in other cities, not including Vegas and Macau. Not only that, the Japanese are really into betting on boat racing (kyotei), bicycle racing (keirin) and horse racing (keiba).  Go to anyone of these venues, and you'll find them far from empty. Even on days when there is no live event happening, there will still be people betting on races in other cities that they can watch on screen. Venues take turns hosting races everyday, including holidays, throughout the country.

The venues have even become date spots or even places for family weekend outings when there are food stalls set up and games or entertainment for the kids. Japanese stars attend the races to promote events or even as their own personal hobby. Many places try to increase their female audiences by waiving the entrance fee for them.

Recently, I visited the boat races in the city of Gamagori (Aichi prefecture). I'm not much of a gambler but I have to say it was a pretty fun Japan experience!

Watch the races as they happen right in front you

The venue has been recently renovated so it looks very clean and modern inside the building. You can hang out on the first floor where the seats are free to watch the races outdoors or the television screens showing races around the country. The first floor also houses the building's food court where you can choose from 5 different shops selling ramen, hotdogs, curry, tempura and other types of rice bowls, gyoza and kara-age (fried chicken).

The second floors holds rooms for rental, good if you're going to be spending the whole day there with a date or a group of people. There is also a restaurant on this floor selling various Japanese comfort foods.

I suggest getting a seat on the third floor, the moonlight seats are inexpensive (1500 yen) compared to the other types of seats and you have your own little table, reading lamp and monitor. Plus they sometimes hand out a 500 yen coupon to use at the snack shop (it is permitted to bring food and drinks back to your seat). Even if you are there with a friend, you can just choose two seats adjacent to each other, sharing the same aisle, and you're still close enough to have a chat.

A 'Moonlight' seat on the third floor

Simple betting is very easy; just take a look at this sample mark sheet;

Sample of a marksheet

At the top I've marked off the number 7 to indicate the venue of the race, which in this case is Gamagori. To the left of that, number 8 is coloured in to indicate the number of the race I want to bet on. Where I marked off the letter A, this is where you choose the type of bet. So here, A means I'll choose 3 boats in the order that I think they will place. In this example I chose boat no. 1 for first place, boat no. 3 for second place and boat no. 5 for third place. To the right of that, I filled in the how much I want to bet, in this case the number 1 and the character for 100 (百). This means that I'll bet 100 yen.
I filled in another example of a type of bet you can make at the bottom of the sheet. This time I marked off C to show that I'd like to choose three boats that I think will make the top three, and they can be in any order. Of course with this type of bet the payout is less, but it is also easier to win. Here I've chosen boats no. 2, 4, and 6 to place in the top three. Then I fill in the numbers 10 and 2 to bet an increment of 12. Lastly I filled in the character for 1000 (千) for a bet of 12 000 yen. By the way the last character, 万 represents 10 000 (if you dare to fill that one in!).

Just insert your marksheet into one of the self-service machines and get your confirmation of a bet placed. Keep the confirmation because if you win, you'll need this ticket to insert back into the machines to get your payout.

See? Not too difficult! Don't forget there are plenty of newbies there and the staff are more than willing to help anybody who has questions. For a brief explanation in English, check out the official Japan Boat Race site at https://www.boatrace.jp/owpc/pc/extra/en/index.html.

To get to the Gamagori venue, just take the JR train from Nagoya station to Okazaki station, and transfer to the train that goes to Mikawa-shiotsu station. From there it's just a 5 minute walk (you can see the venue from the station). For complete directions visit the venue's website; http://www.gamagori-kyotei.com/03access/03access.htm. They don't have live racing everyday, so if you want to see it, make sure to check the schedule before you make plans; http://www.gamagori-kyotei.com/ (for gamagori, the schedule is the first row on the calendar, and if there is a symbol of a moon, it means the races start in the afternoon and go into the night).

I hope you get a chance to check out the boat races in Japan, they are exciting and would be a break from visiting all the temples, castles, shrines and gardens!