Japan goalkeeper racially abused online after Asian Cup errors

Samit Basu

I am absolutely a gaijin to people here until I show them my ID :)

Then I explain my mixed blood.

I dont call myself a double, or flip a lid when someone says I am a hafu.

Well Roy I am half Japanese as are hundreds of others that I know.

Why aren’t you half then? Its because you dont like the term right?

If you've got the passport, you're 100% Japanese. It doesn't matter if you are yellow, white, brown or black, know 2000 or zero kanji, wear a turban or a burqa, or prefer sandwiches to onigiri. All that matters is the passport.

Passport matters not a single whit when it comes to international sports team eligiibilities. Each governing body defines its own eligibility requirements. In the case of FIFA, "a player must have at least one parent or grandparent who was born in that country, or the player must have been resident in that country for at least two years." Neither of these requirements involves a passport. Lars Nootbaar has never held a Japanese passport, and he won the WBC with the Japanese national team, and has become quite popular here (despite being a mediocre MLB pro).

I'm sure most of the negative comments were not racist

Based on what?

@thepersoniamnow

I am indeed HALF Japanese, as I am also American.

Then you are an American in the eyes of Japanese, a gaijin.

In the US, you are a Japanese American.

I'm sure most of the negative comments were not racist, just pointing out that he had two terrible games and needs to improve quickly or make way for a replacement. The coach should also be getting a few tweets.

When you are multiracial and a winner everyone loves you but once you fail all the love turns to pure hate!!!

Downvotes…love it!

People coming here from abroad and trying to tell me I am not half Japanese.

I am indeed HALF Japanese, as I am also American. It really don’t matter if you don’t like it.

What's with the explosion of racism around the world recently? I thought we'd gotten rid of it in the 90s.

There is actually 100% mixed and half Japanese, like me and my whole family.

Its always some westerner telling me that I am not half but a double or something else like that.

I most definitely consider myself mixed blood and part Japanese because I am also part other nationalities and have affinities to those places.

If you have no skin in the game, keep ur opinions.

TaiwanIsNotChina

ummm.... I cleary said in the comment I replied to (and in my comment) regarding Soccer (Football) so that is the sport I am refering and honestly I don't think Suzuki is going to change at the moment from a Football goal keeper to Baseball or Amercian Football....

Again, I have been taking a lot of racial attacks during my life, and honestly, those from Japan in my case have not being as problematic as others.

Most times of not being included in things come from both parties not able to talk or break the barrier that are when you first encounter people. Again... this is from my experience and from what I have seen from others like me.

Daniel NeagariToday 02:42 pm JST

Should have played for the US or Ghana, I feel.

Sure becasue the US has no race problems at ALL

There are entire sports in the US that have predominantly African American players. Not sure what you are going on about.

Racial slurs and racism is a problem, but i feel in Japan the magnitude of the problem is not as alarming as in other parts of the World. This I say it from personal experience.

Right it is much better to have the subtle racism of not being included in things.

Should have played for the US or Ghana, I feel.

Why would he feel enough affinity for those nations? Suzuki has grown up in Japan and been playing for Japan for 7 years in the various age groups. Made his debut at 16 for Urawa up in Saitama.

He is Japanese - it's really a no-brainer he chose to play for Japan.

Should have played for the US or Ghana, I feel.

Sure becasue the US has no race problems at ALL.... not to say that football (in US soccer) is a SO popular sport there.

If you have said, "He should had played in Ghana" then yeah maybe, though considering how competitive is Ghana football there he may not got that positioin.

But then also, there shoudl be reasons for him to chosen to play in the J League and not in Ghana.

Racial slurs and racism is a problem, but i feel in Japan the magnitude of the problem is not as alarming as in other parts of the World. This I say it from personal experience.

Zero tolerance is the way to go, ban racist thugs from football and ban racist social media users for life

Again, easier said than done.

They create sock puppet accounts.

It’s,hard to stop,Steve.

This kind of behaviour is disgusting and deep, upsets me. This kid of vile racial abuse was common in England during the 70’s and 80’s. I recall watching Palace Vs Millwall and Vince Hilaire had constant monkey noisy made at him and even had a banana thrown at him by a Millwall knuckle dragger.

Zero tolerance is the way to go, ban racist thugs from football and ban racist social media users for life.

@ David Brent

He's not 100% Japanese, but who cares? If he makes the team according to the rules, fair play to him.

He has Japanese nationality and a Japanese passport. Therefore he is 100% Japanese.

Japanese is a nationality. It's impossible to be half-Japanese. You're either a Japanese national or you're not.

A lot of people will "love" you when you can bring them some sunshine. Other than that, you are ALWAYS an other. True colors come shining through.

Haters gunna hate. Proving them wrong Zion is always the best strategy. Little people who never do anything with their own lives throwing scorn at others deserve zero attention. They are just a sad and sorry part of life. How you deal with them determines your own character in the long run.

Athletes should stay off social media!

Easier said than done. Athletes are generally the social media age generation.

One thing that might be worth mentioning is that trash like racists tend to have multiple accounts and post their garbage under different handles and attempt to write in different styles ( often to pathetic effect ). I’ve seen it first hand.

Maybe not as many of them as some think.

Still trash though.

If you've got the passport, you're 100% Japanese.

mmmmmm, k!

2 ways to go about this if they aren't criminally responsible:

Name and shame the racists in mass media

Put them in a ring with Zion and see how much of a "man" they truly are against a man that is 192cm, 93kg.

He's not 100% Japanese

If you've got the passport, you're 100% Japanese. It doesn't matter if you are yellow, white, brown or black, know 2000 or zero kanji, wear a turban or a burqa, or prefer sandwiches to onigiri. All that matters is the passport.

Zion. Being a black athlete is comes with conditional love, mistakes are not accepted.

being any other colour of athlete comes with no love. Noone loves a particular athlete because they are “white”.

Thank God FIFA and AFC got rules against hate speech and racism to compel Japan to change its ways or else....

Or Else what?

Look at Europe......

 

AC Milan goalkeeper Maignan walks off field after racist chants, game suspended briefly

 

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/mike-maignan-walks-off-field-racist-chants-udinese-1.7090172

 

FIFA will do nothing.

The best defense against racists or any other haters....ignore them. Don't give them the oxygen they crave.

Will be a long journey for him, lets not forget not to long ago before Naomi Osaka became a successful champ many people here did not want her claiming she was Japanese.

Osaka was a successful champ, but she is has been now. She is not Japanese. She has a US passport. She is an American.

 There’s no penalty for racial abuse in Japan as there is no law to deal with it.

Really??

 

Japan court orders man to pay $2,330 in damages to photojournalist for hate speech tweet

 

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230619/p2a/00m/0na/008000c

 

Please explain,

I'm sorry he has been abused

However he shouldn't be playing he was back up for reds last year. And u

is 21, for a keeper that's too young to be playing internationally

By playing him too soon, Moriyasu has finished his international career before it's even starred

The problem is that certain political interests are massively mixed into fields where they don't belong to. Miss Japan is an Ukrainian woman is another fresh example, while here it is the goalkeeper and everyone of us surely knows a lot more examples of what of course is theoretically possible but in practice and statistically more than only some random outliers. In this case here, racist remarks won't help and let him do the goalkeeping also doesn't help. It's the trainer's fault , as he has to put the best someone in that position who can keep the goal clean and has not 50% but 100% team spirit. That's not racist, that's a soccer no-brainer.

Will be a long journey for him, lets not forget not to long ago before Naomi Osaka became a successful champ many people here did not want her claiming she was Japanese. Only after she became a champion was it accepted and her celebrated. Would assume it will be the same for Zion. Being a black athlete is comes with conditional love, mistakes are not accepted.

He's not 100% Japanese, but who cares? If he makes the team according to the rules, fair play to him.

There’s no penalty for racial abuse in Japan as there is no law to deal with it.

But there are laws against online harassment, which would cover this. So go after the racists, and hit them in the pocketbook.

That multiculturalism journey in Japan...

@kurisupisu

There’s no penalty for racial abuse in Japan as there is no law to deal with it.

Thank God FIFA and AFC got rules against hate speech and racism to compel Japan to change its ways or else....

Racism disgusts me. It is a cancer in the world. And having lost 2 sisters to cancer, I hate ALL cancers.

There’s no penalty for racial abuse in Japan as there is no law to deal with it.

Hopefully the kid shakes off these loser racists. He will never be accepted by some due to his "non 100%" Japanese racial background. Some deadbeats on social media are calling for Kawashima to be recalled. The guy is 40 and hasn't played a game in months, possibly he is now working as a coach in Japan.

Athletes should stay off social media!

He certainly deserves some criticism for his play but not his pigmentation. Awful keeper, costing Japan at least a goal a game.