On holiday in Japan in 2015 I went to the Keirin races in Tachikawa and had a great experience. It’s surprisingly not an ‘event’ as such in Japan. There were not many people at the venue other than old men, manual workers and the odd gangster. The main audience for this sport is the betting community watching at home on their televisions. The riders ride around in a pace line for 5 laps, and then it goes bananas with a full on aggressive sprint lap.
Here are a few words that remind me of Tachikawa;
- Hidden away
- Grand
- Brilliant
- Functional
- Dated
- Well Maintained
- Hard Men
- Steel
- Hard Women
- Carbon
- Gambling
- Smoking
- Numbers
- Colours
- Beers
- Shit Food
- Yakuza
- Clean
