<figure id="attachment_456673" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456673" style="width: 2157px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="73bce38d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/07571fc286ee260afc35d1ee99bdc0ed.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456673" class="wp-caption-text">Her embarrassed expression was cute (from the March 11, &#8217;16 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;m not used to having a camera pointed at me.</span></h3>
<p> What did &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In this edition of &#8220;Playback Friday,&#8221; we revisit topics that were popular at the time. This time, we take a look at the March 11, 2004 issue, which was published 10 years ago, and which featured the <span class="strongInContent">following article: &#8220;Debuting on March 3, Hinamatsuri Day: Nanako Fujita, the first female jockey in 16 years, reveals her &#8220;tearful muscle training.</span></p>
<p> Nanako Fujita (28) made her jockey debut in 2004 as JRA&#8217;s seventh female jockey in 16 years. Although she retired suddenly the year before last, and only spent eight and a half years as a jockey, her accomplishments were so significant that she is said to have &#8220;changed the world of horse racing in Japan. The following is an article on her immediately after she passed her jockey&#8217;s license exam (the descriptions in parentheses are quotes from past articles; ages and titles are current as of that time).</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> She was so embarrassed that she said, &#8220;I&#8217;m so embarrassed!　I&#8217;m so embarrassed!</span></p>
<p> When the photographer <span class="strongInContent">asked her to &#8220;look at me and smile</span>,&#8221; she blushed. Rookie jockey Nanako Fujita (18 at the time) was a complete novice. More than 60 members of the press gathered for the announcement of the new jockey&#8217;s acceptance that day. Fujita was embarrassed, saying, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I&#8217;m still getting used to having the camera pointed at me.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I first became interested in horses when I was in the sixth grade of elementary school. I happened to watch a live horse race on TV at home and was fascinated. I begged my father to let me go to the Tokyo Racecourse (in Fuchu City) to see the horses, and I was fascinated by their beautiful coat. I made up my mind that I would definitely become a jockey.</span></p>
<p> After graduating from junior high school, he entered a horse racing school. After graduating from junior high school, she entered a horse racing school, but it was a boarding school and a male-dominated society. As the only female student, Fujita apparently had a very difficult time in that environment.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> She says, &#8220;Even though I was a woman, I had to do the same things as the men. The strength training was especially hard: squats with a 20 kg barbell, crab walks &#8230;&#8230; in which we had to lean back and sideways, and so on. I was so frustrated that I cried alone in my dorm room when I couldn&#8217;t complete a task in which I had to make a horse run a certain distance within a set time, while other male students could.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I wake up at 5:00 every morning. Except for Mondays, which are his days off, he rides horses every day and cooks for himself at the JRA Miho Training Center in Ibaraki Prefecture. He says his target is New Zealand&#8217;s female jockey, Lisa Allpress, who has won more than 1,000 races.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I had a chance to talk with Allpress when she came to Japan last summer, and she gave me some valuable advice,&#8221; he said. She said, &#8216;It&#8217;s important for a light-weight woman to develop leg strength in order to keep her stance on the horse. Her words helped me get over the hard muscle training.</span></p>
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<p> His trainer, Yasuhiro Nemoto, said of Fujita <span class="strongInContent">, &#8220;I like his competitive spirit.</span> I <span class="strongInContent">want her to gain experience so that she can understand the horse&#8217;s feelings.</span></p>
<p> Fujita <span class="strongInContent">laughs, &#8220;I was so occupied every day that I forgot to give Mr. Nemoto chocolates on Valentine&#8217;s Day.</span> Her debut race was scheduled for March 3, the Dolls&#8217; Festival, at Kawasaki Racecourse, a local horse race track. She said her dream is to become the first female jockey to win the Japanese Derby.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;When I think of horse racing in Japan, I think of the Derby. I want to be the kind of jockey who can win the Derby with a push.&#8221;</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Her success changed the world of horse racing."></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">A spectacular performance and&#8230;a sudden retirement</span></h3>
<p> On March 3, 2004, the Kawasaki Racecourse was filled with &#8220;Nanako fever. The racecourse even restricted the coverage of the event, as there were 31 TV cameras and 137 reporters from 63 different companies. Fujita was the highest ranked rider of the day, coming in second place, and was highly praised for her magnificent riding performance.</p>
<p> Until then, most female jockeys had made spectacular debuts but retired before they could make a significant impact, but Fujita was different: she won six races at JRA in 2004, 14 in 2005, 27 in 2006, and 43 in 2007, In 1919, she became the first female jockey to win a GIRA title, and the first female GIRA jockey to win a GIRA title in the same year. In 1919, she became the first female jockey to compete in a GI race (the Feburary Stakes) and the first to win a major prize (the Capella Stakes).</p>
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<p> In &#8217;21, Manami Nagashima and Naho Furukawa also made their JRA debuts, and from that year onward, the presence of female jockeys in the horse racing world grew. Among them, Fujita&#8217;s pioneering presence was exceptional, and in July 2012, she announced her marriage to a JRA employee. His private life seemed to be smooth sailing as well, but the &#8230;&#8230; incident occurred just three months later.</p>
<p> On October 9, 2012, Bunshun Online reported Fujita&#8217;s &#8220;misuse of communication devices. After JRA conducted an interview, it was revealed that he had made a false declaration in a previous investigation when he was found to have brought his own device into the race room. Fujita applied for the revocation of his jockey&#8217;s license on the same day. He retired on the following day, the 11th. It was a sudden retirement that no one had expected.</p>
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<p> Fujita&#8217;s success is said to have changed the world of horse racing. Since 2009, female jockeys have debuted every year, and as of February &#8217;26, there are six. This is due to the fact that since the &#8220;Nanako Fever&#8221; of 2004, more and more women have applied to horse racing schools because of their admiration for Fujita.</p>
<p> Since her retirement, she has made a few appearances at the racetrack for events, but other than that, she does not seem to be involved in any other activities.&#8221; At a talk event at the Monbetsu Racecourse in Hidaka-cho, Hokkaido, where she made her first post-retirement appearance in April 2013, she revealed that she has been doing yoga and Pilates to maintain her health.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" (Photo: A &quot;first-time&quot; shot of her before her debut!"></div>
<figure id="attachment_456674" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456674" style="width: 3784px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="fac1363a"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/1169eb485ae61d5e077105d365116f8b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456674" class="wp-caption-text">Profile at that time〈Born in Moriya City, Ibaraki Prefecture in August &#8217;97. Belongs to Yasuhiro Nemoto Stable, Miho Training Center. His favorite author is Keigo Higashino. 157 cm, 46 kg. Blood type A〉（from March 11, 2004 issue)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_456675" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456675" style="width: 1905px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0d4b76d9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/2d228250bcf98ac1540cd4fa7ca68743.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456675" class="wp-caption-text"> In the 6th grade of elementary school, he was fascinated by horses while watching a live horse race at home (from the March 11, &#8217;16 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_456676" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456676" style="width: 2157px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6e64bc06"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/fc5310cd7fbb6e4b7f685b02d16d57a1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456676" class="wp-caption-text"> You can see how nervous he is about the camera (from the March 11, &#8217;16 issue).</figcaption></figure>
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<figure id="attachment_456679" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456679" style="width: 2157px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="62e993e1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/c8eaf8f38756c5e61ffba70ced077b5e.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456679" class="wp-caption-text"> She talked about how hard it was for her to keep up with the boys at horse racing school (from the March 11, 2004 issue).</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_456677" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-456677" style="width: 2157px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="717c44da"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/02/a635b9cb2823e2f3632a4214cd94fbf8.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-456677" class="wp-caption-text"> She said her dream is to become the first female jockey to win the Derby (from the March 11, 2004 issue).</figcaption></figure>


 Hiroyuki Komatsu

 In this issue of Playback, we take a look back at what we reported 10, 20, and 30 years ago. This time, we will look back at an interview with Nanako Fujita just after she passed her jockey's license in February 2004. We will introduce her fresh and new face just before her debut.

Playback &#8217;16] &#8220;I&#8217;m so embarrassed&#8230;&#8221; &#8211; Nashako Fujita&#8217;s &#8220;first public appearance&#8221; just before her debut.

Playback ’16] “I’m so embarrassed…” – Nashako Fujita’s “first public appearance” just before her debut.

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