Japan hails Hachimura's NBA selection as new era for sport

Japanese when he wins, 'half' son of a Beninese father when he loses.

Japan's education minister Masahiko Shibayama said Hachimura had given hope to a generation of young players in his home country.

I guess there is hope if you're mixed race!

The fact that Hachimura, a product of the Japanese basketball system, has been selected in the NBA draft makes us very proud

I see they forgot to read his interview where he credited the system at Gonzaga for his success. The part where he said he had to learn to be a completely different basketball player from the type of player he was in Japan in order to succeed in his new surroundings.

Hachimura-san is the product of the Japanese school club system. Train hard every day, and work on every technical aspect of basketball there is. This is why we will start seeing more and more young Japanese kids in NBA, big Soccer teams like Real Madrid, and in Track & field.

Actually, the school club system sucks! I have friends who were former members say its outdated system is the reason Japanese athletes are not successful globally. All the successful Japanese athletes (NBA, Soccer, Tennis, Golf and Track Field) get training abroad like Hachimura or have non Japanese coaches in Japan.

It is the same reason Mongolians dominate Sumo because they learn to wrestle before coming to Japan, and Japanese baseball players are increasingly opting not to join the J-League.

Hachimura made it to an American university because of his physical qualities and potential not because of the Japanese club system, and American Basketball system made him a Washington Wizard!

He wasn't Japanese until he got to play in the big leagues. What a transformation !

I see they forgot to read his interview where he credited the system at Gonzaga for his success. The part where he said he had to learn to be a completely different basketball player from the type of player he was in Japan in order to succeed in his new surroundings.

Exactly!

Hachimura-san is the product of the Japanese school club system. Train hard every day, and work on every technical aspect of basketball there is. 

Well, except for the fact that his NBA scouting report lists him as 'technically deficient' and a player who was successful in college simply because of his physical talents more than anything else. His knowledge of basketball patterns, offenses, defenses, and more are all understood as being less than ideal.

And, as pointed out above, he needed years of re-training under the Gonzaga system to be able to play at the NCAA level.

If there's any skill of the "Japanese school system" that'll help, maybe it's the penchant for spending hours upon hours upon hours studying. Because that's what Hachimura's going to have to do to be anything in the NBA.

Suddenly he's Japanese? Last time I heard a Japanese describing him he said Hachimura was NOT Japanese... and said it quite angrily, too. I'm incredibly happy that a Japanese player is making it to the NBA, but I truly hope every and all see him as such not just since he's accepted and when he does well (reverting to "hafu" status if he does not), but now and forever.

As a life long NBA fan and long time expat in Japan, I for one am genuinely excited for the renewed interest in basketball Hachimura will bring to Japan. If this makes it easier to get legit basketball courts set up in Setagaya-ku I will be out there hooping. There are a lot of big strong non-hafu Japanese kids too and if they look at Hachimura and think he is kakkoii I bet they will be out on the courts too.

This is why we will start seeing more and more young Japanese kids in NBA, big Soccer teams like Real Madrid, and in Track & field.

You really have to find a different tune! He only got drafted because he went to Gonzaga.

Please stop with the over hype here, it really is tiresome! Especially when he has yet to accomplish anything in the NBA.

This is why we will start seeing more and more young Japanese kids in NBA, big Soccer teams like Real Madrid, and in Track & field.

Have you also noticed, the Japan record holder for track and field in the 100 meter, is half Japanese too.

Seems to me that you and others only recognize them as being "half" when they fail to win, and always think it's because of their "Japanese" blood that they succeed.

Yet if that was the truth, Japan would never lose at anything...go figure huh?

Saw his interview on tv today, in both English and Japanese. He seems like a very likable young man - cheerful & down to earth.

best of luck to him

Good for him.

Don't listen to the haters who presume to think what all Japanese think and always rain on people's parades.

To nitpick on those Japanese who would not like or support Rui because of his heritage is ridiculous. It is hardly isolated to Japan that not all people of a country would like or support someone because of their background, so to hold Japan to this unfair double standard is ludicrous. Do people out there blame all of Germany for subjecting soccer players like Mesut Ozil to racial abuse?

Many Japanese people love Rui and support him, and could care less about his racial background. Why is that never good enough for the anti-Japan crowd and media? Why do people not celebrate this, instead of harping on the few who do not like him, and harping on how 'racist' and 'xenophobic' Japan is? I guarantee you all, in the coming weeks and months, the world media will incessantly focus on how Rui came from a background of bullying and hatred and how he was 'non-Japanese,' even though Rui himself stated that the concept of Japan being racist was overstated.

Benin hails Hachimura's NBA selection as new era for sport

Wow a lot of haters of the double standard they say is rampant. I don't see or hear it.

Those days are gone and peopel need to meve away from the "pure Japanese" speaking idiots. If you stop listening, they will stop talking rot. Stay positive, focus on the positive and maybe stay off the comments sections a bit more?

I look forward to seeing more coverage of Rui going forward but the poor guy is bringing a lot of distraction to his team with the J media circus and the weird sh!t they get up to overseas.

wtfjapan

Please stop with the over hype here, it really is tiresome! Especially when he has yet to accomplish anything in the NBA. agreed meanwhile Naomi Osaka may lose her #1 rank to Ash Barty if she win tomorrow. I wonder if theyll start calling her halfu again if she becomes # 2

Factually incorrect.

Dude has accomplished much by being drafted at #9. Even for US college athletes, to be drafted in the lottery is a big deal. And why look to a negative outcome with Osaka, other than to simply hope for negative outcomes to back up your negative outlook? Can't they be BOTH (Japanese/other nationality)?

Can't they be BOTH (Japanese/other nationality)?

absolutely as Japanese isnt a race its a nationality. Many people in the world have dual or multiple nationalities, Osaka and Hachimura are mixed race and while theyre Japanese they could equally be called American as they've spent large parts of their lives living and learning in AMerica, speak fluent english. While their mixed race will never be change their nationality can be . So to claim them as 100% Japanese both culturally and nationality would be factually wrong

Kudos to him, nothing much to cheer about in Japan anymore except tourism, TVs and anything Japan was good at previously is on the back burner. Quasi nationals are doing well to bring the nation to fervour, analytic presentations on morning shows are my flavour of the month!

Knew it! Couldn't resist mentioning his ancestry... Oh well, at least they don't make as much of a fuss as Western media...

"Each time half-Japanese athlete's topic comes out, japanophobe racists come and try to convict Japanese as xenophobia discriminator. "

Don't yer worry Lalo.

After all, they all come from perfect countries where there's absolutely no racism. Ben Johnson was hailed as a true Canadian when got caught with his hands in the cookie jar!

product of the Japanese school club system.

LOL yeah and that helps him with gifted athletic abilities as a basketball player. How many Japanese are 6ft 8 and look black!? he must of got those traits from his Japanese mother!?

Please stop with the over hype here, it really is tiresome! Especially when he has yet to accomplish anything in the NBA. agreed meanwhile Naomi Osaka may lose her #1 rank to Ash Barty if she win tomorrow. I wonder if theyll start calling her halfu again if she becomes # 2

Japan says whatever they want and you can't deny or win over them.

easily to win and deny over them when you provide them with the facts, whether they listen or agree with you is their problem . denying something thats proven to be fact doesnt change it into fiction.

I hear you Lalo.

But you have to realize though that the world media and the anti-Japanese crowd have a very narrow minded viewpoint of Japan and its people. They have preconceived notions of what Japan should be like, and if they see things that run contrary to that, they refuse to accept it. This is why the world media cannot accept that many Japanese people do in fact accept and support Rui for who he is and what he brings to the sport regardless of his racial background. This is the same reason why the world media cannot accept that many Japanese people support celebrities like Naomi Osaka, Priyanka Yoshikawa, and Ariana Miyamoto to name a few. This runs contrary to their belief that all Japanese are racist xenophobes.

And this is why the world media incessantly focuses on asking the Rui's and Osaka's of Japan about how horribly they were treated as kids, how Japanese society treated them like outcasts, do Japanese people 'accept' them as real Japanese, etc. These people are so desperate to portray Japan in a negative light, that they conveniently ignore the overwhelming good and focus on the bad. And it doesn't even stop there, these people are so full of hatred that they insult Japanese people who celebrate people like Rui as 'bandwagon' fans who only cheer him on because of his half Japanese side.

I have issues with Rui in terms of his potential to become an elite NBA player, and that has solely to do with his physical talents and absolutely nothing to do with his race. From everything I read, Rui has been nothing but a nice, considerate, and quiet young man with a mature head on his shoulders. I wish him nothing but the best and I hope he will work on his weaknesses to become an elite NBA player.

Next question: How will Japan get more money out of him? Japanese baseball players who play for a Japanese team first always get paid for sending their players to the U.S. If he didn't join the JBA, then he may be lucky. All of his salary will be his and his alone ( except for the double taxation ).

All he needs to do now is win so he gets more sponsors. I think that will be 5 years down the line.

He'll need to get to the All-Star game in order to get a big deal. I wish him all the best but he'll be surrounded by fake friends. The Olympics is a real shot though!!

OH wait a minute! There's the timing right there. Silly me, I forgot about the Olympic ticket sales. Flash in the pan.

As a Japanese, I'm fed up with all of the hate comments against us overflowing here.

Each time half-Japanese athlete's topic comes out, japanophobe racists come and try to convict Japanese as xenophobia discriminator. However, neither Aska Cambridge nor Naomi Osaka nor Darvish have ever spoken of such experience.

A foreign reporter repeatedly asked Aska Cambridge "please talk about the racism you received from Japanese". Aska laughed and said "I've never had such a bad experience." She looked very disappointed when he answered because the malicious delusion that every half Japanese are discriminated by Japanese is most favorite topic of the Western media and its readers.

Darvish's younger brother, as a notorious gangster, had hurt many Japanese, beat his girlfriend and was arrested many times. However, there is no Japanese who blames Darvish as an athlete in connection with his younger bro.

So, when Hachimura was bullied by Japanese? B.LEAGUE already has many foreign and half Japanese players. It's the same with track and field, rugby and football. And everyone is looking forward to Hachimura's performance in NBA. That's all.

@BackpackingNepal said, "If there are halfu does some crime, Japan says they are not Japanese and never were and will be." Is that a fact? Sadly, it is an undeniable fact that aversive people in certain countries are coming to Japan to commit crimes. However, Japanese people are usually not hostile to legitimate visitors from any country.

Ironically, Each time watched the news of one murder case happened in Japan, JT readers always say "Japanese is a spooky potential criminals. Their inside is a cruel imperialist. "

And talks about the half-Japanese athletes “He/She is a very good athlete, so He/She should be Japanese !".

The system here isn’t horrible. It’s simply a different system. It doesn’t fit well with the NBA style of play.

With Sports in general there are great athletes from Japan but I truly believe, just like it is with every country, greatness comes from the individual and not the system.

When going abroad to other clubs and teams, I think Japanese prefer to stay home.

No need to be confused and argue.

Japan says whatever they want and you can't deny or win over them.

If those halfu does some crime, Japan says they are not Japanese and never were and will be.

You just have to cope with it. Control your anger and save your words.

Japanese when he wins, 'half' son of a Beninese father when he loses.

Always Japanese and always half son of a Beninese father.

Hachimura-san is the product of the Japanese school club system. Train hard every day, and work on every technical aspect of basketball there is. This is why we will start seeing more and more young Japanese kids in NBA, big Soccer teams like Real Madrid, and in Track & field.

Good luck in the NBA with the Wizard team, Hachimura-san! Many points scored in a long career, I hope. And also all eyes on him in Tokyo 2020!

I'm really surprized by some of the very stereotypical comments about Japanese here. How about getting to know some Japanese people.