An Irish-born veterinarian has achieved a lot of "firsts and onlys" in Japan, including becoming the first non-Japanese breeder of a horse to win the Japanese Derby, or Tokyo Yushun, one of the jewels in Japan's Triple Crown.
But as the 51-year-old Harry Sweeney recalled in a recent interview, the "most difficult part" of his career here was becoming the first non-Japanese member of the Hidaka Horse Breeders Association in the town of Hidaka, Hokkaido, home to his Paca Paca Farm located in a hilly area overlooking the Hidaka mountain chain and the Pacific Ocean.
In early 1990, Sweeney received a phone call at his home near Dublin from an official of Taiki Farm in Hokkaido saying the farm was looking for a person to manage it. "Are you interested?" he was asked.