FUKUYAMA
The official announcement has been made regarding the closure of the NAR Fukuyama track. According to people on the scene, there was a hollow apology and very little chance to appeal against the decision. This doesn't sound right to me, and is totally out of character with the many friends I have in Hiroshima thanks to my car activities.

Closing a racecourse may be a simple way of balancing the books on paper, but there will be a lot of money lost indirectly as a result. Trainers, jockeys, grooms, track staff, drivers - they've all lost jobs, and won't spend in the local shops as a result. In this current financial climate, where else will they go? Add in the breeding trade, feed suppliers, vets, maintenance staff, et cetera, and the knock-on effect is huge. There's a lot more to it than a simple plus and minus on a balance sheet. Besides which, what will happen the land afterwards - taxes will have to be paid on something not being used!

Not so far down the road from Fukuyama is a company that was once called Toyo Kogyo. The men in the factory there were tempted to give up on a daily basis trying to perfect a new type of engine - to all concerned, there were times when it seemed an impossible task. They didn't give up, though, because they could see they had something special. In the end, the 47 Samurai assigned to the project gave the world the Mazda rotary engine - one of the finest power-units ever made.

Going back a bit further, Hiroshima rose from the ashes of war to fight back and become reborn as what I feel is one of the most beautiful cities in Japan. It is a twin city with my hometown, Coventry, because that was also badly bombed in WWII - indeed, the word 'Coventrated' was added to the dictionary to symbolize something that has been completely destroyed.

But ultimately, Hiroshima and its people have a history of overcoming the seemingly impossible. Where is that fighting spirit in the local government today? If those behind Urawa can turn a loss-making track into one that now makes a profit, despite the poor economy, surely it can be done at the picturesque Fukuyama track with a little innovation...