The Shimoda Salmon Festival, Part Three: the Salmon Race and the Origin of the Species

And so, loyal readers, we reach the third and final event of the salmon festival: the salmon race. Below we see the "race track" of sorts, crowded by spectators eagerly awaiting a show of gentlemanly sportsmanship (this double-masculine isn't really all that accurate, salmon racing isn't as much of a boy's club as one might expect).
Well, you might say to yourself, "That's all well and good but how exactly does one get a salmon to race?" The answer is quite simple, really:
you beat the shit out of it with a stick.
Another photo finish! But what fate will befall our noble athletes?
Oh yes, that's right. Congratulations! Your prize is getting to suffocate in a garbage bag! At least the Kentucky Derby winners had a few years left in them before they were shipped off to the glue factory (or Japan, for that matter).

Well, if you're like me, you're probably wondering by this point, "Where does this seemingly endless supply of live salmon come from?" The answer is more simple than you might think: the water. The Oirase river runs right through the Shimoda Salmon Park and they simply set up this cage on the water that somehow manages to catch an abundance of salmon who are swimming downstream.



As one might imagine, they're not all too happy about being imprisoned. Perhaps the jumpers pictured above are discreetly planning an escape a la The Great Escape? If that's the case, I imagine that one of them speaks with the voice of Mel Gibson and is inexplicably American despite the cultural legacy of Mad Max.