PlanetSKI Spends a Day at the Races – Japanese Style

26th February 2025

Last modified on March 1st, 2025

We’re heading to the ski areas around Furano, inland into Hokkaido. Via some horse racing, bird watching and generally experiencing things that some ski tourists miss out on.

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

We go skiing:

Hakuba Valley, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

PlanetSKI in Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

We are currently on the northern island of Hokkaido heading to the inland ski resorts around Furano, from our base of the last two weeks in Sapporo.

On the way we’re taking a short break from the slopes to experience some others attractions.

There’s the unique experience of Banei horse racing.

Obihiro, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

And viewing one of the favourite birds of Japan, the crane, in its natural habitat.

Kushiro, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

First up, is some Hokkaido Banei horse racing.

Horse Racing in Obihiro

Nothing quite prepared for me for the Banei horse racing experience.

It is not like anything I had seen before, or likely ever to see again.

The horses are bred from farm animals and race against each other pulling the weight of what they would have been pulling on the farms.

Today most farming is done by machinery, but the tradition of racing continues where the strength of the horse is what is measured.

It is the only race of its kind in the world.

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

The course has a shrine at its entrance with an equine flavour.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

At 2pm sharp the first race began.

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

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

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

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Total weight of the sledge and driver is 450kilos – the equivalent weight of a fully grown brown bear or a concert-sized grand piano.

Sometimes they pull a sledge with the weight of up to a ton.

It was nothing short of extraordinary.

One of the main races of the day was the fourth one, D4.

Here are the runners and riders.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Hokusei Zenico
Mi Yabi Power
Break a-Kan
I Wakie Tiara
J Time
Cristle Ove
Amon Reech

Place your bets.

The betting was studied at first, and then went up a gear or two to a frantic level as the race approached and the numbers changed.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Sit back and watch this – it is not the 14.30 from Kempton Park on a Wednesday afternoon:

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

And they’re off.

The horses rest several times to gather their strength.

Then around two and a half minutes later they reach the finish line where they are considered to have completed the race when the back of the sledge crosses the line.

To my eyes the whipping and the struggle the horses put in raises the issue of animal welfare.

But then perhaps I should view it as a Hokkaido tradition and judge it for what it is.

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

“They have very thick skin and do not feel the whip as pain,” I was told by a race supporter as I questioned the animal welfare.

“As the horses enter the starting gates, they are excited to race and can’t wait to get going.

“They know the challenge ahead and when they can’t manage it they just stop.

“It is like husky dogs pulling a heavy sledge in heavy snow, it is what nature deigned them for.

“These horses are designed to pull heavy weights and that is what they do.”

Such racing has been taking place for over 100 years on Hokkaido and currently there are 154 days of racing per year at Obihiro.

They take place on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Around 1,000 people turn out each day and entrance is free.

There used to be 15 race courses on Hokkaido, now the one at Obihiro is the only one left.

There is also a museum dedicated to the equine traditions of the area that paints a vivid picture of the area’s agricultural past and the importance of horses in the story.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

There is one of the original sledges that would been used to transport heavy items as well as people.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

A contrast to the ones used for racing today.

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

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

If you ski in either, our recommendation is that you find time to come to the Banei horse racing at Obihiro.

It is a unique experience – sporting or otherwise.

The main event of the racing season, the Banei Memorial Race, takes place in the first half of March towards the end of the ski season and attracts 5,000 race goers.

If you are interested in horses there is also the chance to see the breed close up in their stables.

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Oh, and the lettuce hot dogs are pretty good too.

Obihuro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

PlanetSKI’s next stop as we take a break from the slopes is some bird watching as we view the cranes in their natural habitat in the marshlands of Kushiro and 100kms or so from Obihiro.

Kushiro, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

The Tancho crane, the White-napped crane and the hooded crane are mainly found in Hokkaido.

The Tancho is resident throughout the year and breeds in Japan.

The best time to view them is in the winter as the marshlands freeze over so they come inland.

Kushiro, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

Kushiro, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

They draw in hundreds of bird-watchers most of whom have high-level cameras to record the experience.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

The main centre is the Akan International Crane Centre.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

It is a major winter feeding area for the large flocks of crane and the centre is dedicated to crane conservation, public education and crane research.

Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan. Image © PlanetSKI

The birds used to be found all over the main Japanese island of Honchu and northern island of Hokkaido but due to hunting and the disappearance of the wetlands they became all but extinct.

However a small non-migratory flock was found in eastern Hokkaido in 1924 and the birds were nurtured back into existence.

There are now around 2,000 in this part of Hokkaido.

Since 1966 they are fed artificially at several sites so food in the winter is not a limiting factor for the crane population.

Dent corn is scattered from November through to March when natural food for the crane is scarce.

They are a protected species.

It may have been a round trip diversion of a couple of hundred miles from the ski slopes to see the cranes, but it was 100% worth it.

As was the day’s ‘random Japanese experience’.

So, what do you thing this tall building is?

It’s the car parking facility at the Dormy Hotel in downtown Kushiro, where we were staying.

The attendant presses a few buttons and you drive in forward through this door at its base.

You then park your car on a small metal platform and up it goes.

When you want to leave, the attendant presses more buttons and your car returns, facing the right way, for you to drive off.

Quite extraordinary!

The PlanetSKI Japan ski trip is taking a rest from the slopes and is all the better for it.

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

With the sun setting over the port city.

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

And found time for some fabulous food at restaurants few westerners go to as we are off the main tourist trail.

On a trip to Japan there is so much else to experience:

In Kanazawa and beyond

And then there is Tokyo:

Do check back….

PlanetSKI: Number 1 for digital ski news.

Your digital platform for ski news, resort information, travel, equipment rental, money saving deals and everything connected with snowsports – web site, social media & more.

For the Spirit of the Mountains – PlanetSKI: Number One for ski news