Nishikori, Osaka power into U.S. Open semifinals

Amazing! Well done Naomi-chan! It looks like Kei-chan is into Semi too! 2 games away. Two Japanese fighting for a Major title, to bring home to Japan for the first time. There will be big all night parties all over Japan this weekend!!

Nice work Kei!

No doubt Naomi will actually need to work in her semi.

This helps a Nishikori+Federer-fan feel happier.

I was side by side with Osaka last year going through immigration at Narita. I recognized her and happened to see her passport. She was using an American passport. How is that allowed? If she is playing tennis representing Japan does she not have to be Japanese? And if she is Japanese how is she able to hold the passport of another country? I thought the Japanese government did not allow duel citizenship.

Anyway, love her tennis!

@ Y Okitsu - Naomi-chan can keep the 2 passports until she is 22 years old. Then, she must choose one. She represents Japan; and consider herself Japanese, so will almost surely choose Japanese one.

Go Naomi-chan! Go Kei-chan!

Got it. Thank you Ganbare Japan!

Go Naomi! I love you.

Letme get this straight - shemoved tothe US when she was 3, has lived there ever since, cant speak japanese but "considers herself japanese." OK, got it.

Letme get this straight - shemoved tothe US when she was 3, has lived there ever since, cant speak japanese but "considers herself japanese." OK, got it.

Yeah! How dare she, being born in Japan, of Japanese ethnicity, holding a Japanese passport, dare call herself Japanese. The audacity! Hang her from the highest tree you can find.

Letme get this straight - shemoved tothe US when she was 3, has lived there ever since, cant speak japanese but "considers herself japanese." OK, got it.

Born in Japan to a Japanese mother. That should qualify her but I guess you don't think so. What should she consider herself then? I also don't think she had a say in her parents moving her to the States.

@ Y Okitsu - Naomi-chan can keep the 2 passports until she is 22 years old. Then, she must choose one. 

Not exactly. She MIGHT be asked by a representative of the Japanese government (putting it this way as I don’t know which ministry or department is in charge of such things) to choose her nationality. At which point she would have to declare to the Japanese government that she has given up American nationality. Such a statement by itself, however, is not considered a legal surrender of American nationality by the US government. The Japanese government knows that she may not hand over her American passport to them because it is not HER property but that of the US Department of State. There are numbers of stealth dual-nationals in Japan. How is this possible? Explain to me how prostitution is illegal yet “soaplands” flourish. This is the incredibly bendable Japan after all.

theFritzX wrote:

Letme get this straight - shemoved tothe US when she was 3, has lived there ever since, cant speak japanese but "considers herself japanese." OK, got it.

‘Tis the way of the modern world, Fritzi. As you well know, among the natives here, if you look Japanese, you are Japanese. (Just keep in mind that the “one drop” rule does not apply). If you don’t look Japanese, you aren’t Japanese. I’m certain neither of us is really uncomfortable about that. But don’t go calling yourself Japanese unless you look the role and she definitely looks the part. (BTW, she really is American. She’s probably forgiven for being so.)

It's unfortunate that sports stories about Naomi Osaka attract more interest in the bureacratic procedures she / her family did to get a passport (a stupid booklet that governments require us to have, in order to simply move from one strip of dirt on the planet to another), than they do about her tennis.

Anyways, looks that Nishikori will leap back up to around world #12 after this effort of making the best-4 here. A successful season, considering that he wasn't even fit/confident enough to play the Australia Grand Slam at the beginning of the year.

I fancy Naomi's chances of winning the whole thing much more than I do Nishikori's, with Djokovic and perhaps Nadal (can't discount delPo either) to come, but it's certainly wonderful for Nishikori fans too see his name amongst the other 3, all former champions.

So no top 10 in women's semis (although Serena's intrinsically a top 3 player) really shows anyone can beat anyone on any given day.

Really hope Osaka wins the whole thing but she'll now face (possibly) 2 yanks on home turf.

As an aside am surprised hers and nishikori's qf weren't on fta.

Both Kei & Naomi represent the new face of Japan - a break from the old conformist stereotypes created by media and nationalists.

Naomi has dual-ethnicity, is a native english speaker and plays for Japan. A fresh face if there ever was.

Kei is Japanese, speaks v. good english and has a Global Mind. He is admired by his Inernational peers. A fresh face if there ever was.

And Naomi plays for Japan because it was her father's decision. She was homeschooled in America and focussed everday on tennis training with her father. She bypassed the normal sports routes of school / age championships (competed in mainly open type events outside the system) and when it came to seeking entry to tournaments, being ranked, attracting grants sponsorship etc , she was for all intents and purposes an unknown. Fighting through a system for recognition with hundreds of similar kids was not a cheering proposition, so as a dual passport holder the simpler way was to represent Japan. Her talent would quickly put her at the top of the pile in Japan and it has, and she now attracts huge interest, following & Money , esp from here.

Good Luck for them both this week.

Ike-in-Tokyo,

I get it now. Yup, I figured she was in fact American.

I get it now. Yup, I figured she was in fact American

...and Japanese.

Strangerland, riiiighhht....

For tournaments like the US Open, it doesn't matter.

She doesn't 'represent' Japan in the US Open or any other professional tournament like it. The only times she would represent 'Japan' is in the Davis Cup or events like the Olympics.

As for her choice in passports, etc... who cares? Honestly?

StrangerlandToday  08:15 pm JST

Strangerland, riiiighhht....

Thank you for agreeing with me that it's right. Born in Japan, of a Japanese mother, with a Japanese passport, living in Japan.

You'd have to be entirely ignorant or racist to think she's not Japanese.

That said, some on this thread disagree with us and think she isn't Japanese. Morons right!

Who on this thread has said they don’t think she’s Japanese?

Who on this thread has said they don’t think she’s Japanese?

Just a whole lot of implications.

Let's not try to pretend they're weren't. You'd be playing us both for stupid.

I get it now. Yup, I figured she was in fact American.

When Naomi-chan surrenders the USA passport when she is 22, she will be 100% Japanese. Not American. She calls herself Japanese, and Japanese people accept her as Japanese. She is Japanese. Case closed.

Go Naomi-chan! Go Kei-chan!! I cant wait for the weekend!!

A lot of tennis players are "caught" between two countries, and their decision regarding which one to "officially" represent in tennis almost always has much more to do with the support they would receive from either country's tennis federation. I don't know the details of Osaka's case, but just throwing this out as a possibility: the U.S. is loaded with star women's players. Between two Williamses, Stephens, Keys, and Vandeweghe, they have 5 among the top 25 in the sport, and a non-stop supply of younger ones coming through the system. Had Osaka decided to represent the US, she would simply be "one of many," and even if she turns out to be a major, consistent star, she'd still be playing #2 (at least!) to Serena. That would limit her income, endorsement opportunities, and preferential treatment in a wide variety of ways. In Japan, the women's tennis field is much, much, much smaller and weaker. By representing Japan, she is treated as the true #1, given the best of everything, and has a much nicer situation.

So, I don't think her decision has much to do with which country she "prefers" or "identifies as" - this is a business decision, plain and simple.

the original wing - read my post above.

She obviously loves both countries but it was choosing the best chance to advance.