Planning on opening up later this spring. IMO thats really good to hear and a bit of a cultural shift.
Sorry, no other details shared in their winter update.
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It’s happy to see some move towards taking care of the horses after they’ve run their course. Japanese racing depresses me, I read i one article a while ago that about 90% of exracehorses end up going to slaughter? Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I know logically the land is not there to support all those horses and personal horse ownership is almost non existent so where do they go? I am happy to see this, progress is progress.
More details coming soon, I assume. Also assume location was donated and likely near where the majority of breeding farms are. There plenty of land, just been privately held forever.
I’ve read equi-tourism is a pretty big thing in Japan.
There have been a number of public efforts there recently to present the OTTB as something valuable and useful.
The only source I found reporting that 90% figure is PETA. Maybe it is correct, maybe PETA is doing what they do best by pushing their own narrative. Horse slaughter is still a regular practice in much of Asia and Europe. Personally, I have never been able to support a total anti-slaughter stance when we are still slaughtering dozens of other types of livestock. It feels hypocritical to me. I do think the methods of handling horses (and most other livestock) for slaughter are often unnecessarily cruel, with good husbandry being overriden by convenience and profit.
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I hope it wasn’t peta that I was reading, if so I feel duped. I’m definitely not against slaughter at all, it’s just that these horses work so hard and don’t get to live very normal horse lives while they are racing. Then their careers are pretty short, which is good in U.S. since there are so many programs looking to rehome them, but sucks if it just ends in an otherwise healthy young horse going to slaughter. This applies to other sports too in my mind. It’s a complex issue, there’s no simple answer and maybe slaughter is kinder than alternatives it just feels disrespectful to not make any attempt at a dignified retirement for all the effort (and money to benefit their owners) that is squeezed out of them. But, like you said they may be making those efforts it’s just hard to see or wrap my head around looking in from the outside. I hope they are using them in their equi-tourism or finding other ways to repurpose them.
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I don’t understand why some people seem more concerned about horse slaughter in Japan than they are about the trucks full of horses that leave the U.S. daily, for slaughter in Canada and Mexico. The U.S. has too many unwanted horses and until we solve that problem I think we should stop pointing fingers at other countries.
I agree that horse slaughter is a complex issue and a difficult one for people who love horses, especially those of us who live in a culture where horse meat is not consumed.
The TB industry in the U.S. is working hard to keep their horses out of the slaughter pipeline and Japan is now trying to give some of their TBs a life after racing. They can’t really use the U.S. model of selling their ex-racers on for new careers, as you mentioned.
Japanese race fans are legion, so I think having an Old Friends facility there will be very well received. 
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Skydy speaks very well and thoughtfully about this. We overproduce horses in relation to the number of potential buyers not to mention producing mediocre at best animals adding to a market glutted with poorly trained or barely trained relatively young horses, often poorly built, bred as a hobby, to fulfill a childhood dream or obsession with no thought of who will buy them…and we hoard. People hoard worldwide but not livestock, no place to keep them.
The unfortunate truth is the market needs a bottom for this surplus and will until we stop creating more. There are worse fates, like it or not.
We are lucky so many of us have the access and means to support personal horses. Its not an option many other places.
I agree, with both points. Horses are overproduced everywhere, and I guess one benefit of not having a lot of personal horses in Japan is there’s not much opportunity for backyard breeders. I visited several years ago before I knew they had racing and when I got reinvested I was surprised that was a thing, but I guess the uk is small as well and they definitely have a lot of horse ownership. It’s good to hear other opinions to moderate the emotions. 
Yes, the UK is an Island nation as well, but they have a very long tradition of keeping horses for recreation and sport, whereas Japan doesn’t.
Here is an interesting article comparing Japan with the UK, not specific to horses, but it does discuss matters that explain why widespread keeping of horses in Japan is not feasible. https://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/the_british_isles_and_japanese_archipelago_a_comparison_of_environmental_basics
The UK has only recently enacted a ban that prevents their racehorses from entering the food chain, however it doesn’t prohibit the slaughter of other horses.
That was a good read, skydy, no wonder they’re so efficient about everything. They have to be to support their population; I always thought it was just a societal construct but seems it’s more out of necessity. It seems, when I visited Tokyo and Kyoto, they really try to preserve green spaces within the cities too. We visited the Meiji shrine and I remember thinking that you couldn’t hear the noise of the city at all, you might as well be out in the middle of the forest.
And maybe if I have a chance to go back in a few years I’ll be able to check out Old Friends Japan and their equi-tourism.
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How wonderful that you’ve been there in person and have experienced the green spaces in the densely populated cities of Japan. I’ve only seen them on film and video but I’ve heard those same feelings about them, from people that I know who have been there. Apparently those green spaces are quite remarkable, especially in contrast to the noise and congestion of Tokyo.
If/when you go back and can remember, please share your experience with those of us who are unable to make the trip. 
