Having honed his equestrian skills in Europe for the past seven and a half years, 28-year-old Ryunosuke Kuroda is now hoping to represent Japan in the team dressage event at this summer's Tokyo Olympics.

The Hyogo Prefecture-native, who currently resides in the Netherlands, quit university in 2012 so he could practice his riding skills in Germany, arguably the world's most attractive destination for anyone affiliated with the sport of equestrian.

"I did kyūdō (Japanese archery) at school but then started riding horses in my late teens because of my mother. She did it as a hobby with her friends but as they started to focus more on golf, she had nobody to go with. Being a good son, I volunteered," Kuroda says with a laugh. "Within six months I'd reached level 10 (in ability) as a rider, which was pretty fast. But then studies took over and I had to take a break from the sport."