(CNN) -- Big in Japan. It's a phenomenon well known to generations of rock bands, elevated from relative obscurity at home to apparent god-like status in the Land of the Rising Sun. Met at the airport by screaming fans, groups struggling to get in their own charts get an unexpected -- and often career-reviving -- taste of Beatlemania, Orient-style. This weekend, it's going international -- "Live at the Budokan" on tour, in Longchamp. Thousands of enthusiastic Japanese will invade Paris for an event that some say has become the crowning jewel in a new national obsession. It's not pop music, but horse racing -- a sport that has emerged from a murky association with underworld gambling to become an aspirational pastime for a younger generation of Japanese racegoers and a rival to the likes of baseball and football.
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Japan bid to end their Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hoodoo at Sunday's big race
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English Derby winner Ryan Moore talks of football stadium-like mentality in Japanese racing
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Public obsesses about Kizuna jockey Yutaka Take, likened to the David Beckham of the sport
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Horse-breeding program ensures the best animals are brought in from around the globe
Should Japan's most celebrated jockey win riding a horse with arguably the most emotional baggage in memory of the 18,000 people that lost their lives, it will be the ultimate way for the nation to celebrate breaking its duck in @placeholder.