rugby world cup 2019

Foreign-born players in Japan's team at World Cup put spotlight on eligibility rules

26 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

26 Comments
Login to comment

Mr Luddite came home from a business booze up last week and said that one client was complaining that many in the Japanese team didn't look Japanese so how can they play for Japan. I remember similar comments about the mixed race Japanese women who won the Miss Japan contest a few years back.

Let's hope the multicultural and multiracial sports men and women who are now prominent help change these outdated attitudes about what it means to be Japanese.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Pukey2..True, but the young rising star of Japanese ping pong has 2 Chinese parents.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Reminds me of some European teams in ping-pong - half of them originally come from China!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

At the rate this is going.....in 20 years time....every team will be made up of Fiji. Samoan or Tongan players

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Diversity or the lack of isn’t the problem.

The problem is New Zealand! Or rather the over abundance of talent in NZ.

NZ gives a bunch of rugby scholarships to high schoolers from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji every year. Add these to the large number of “Islanders” already in NZ and you have a massive pool of talent. Almost the entire Tongan squad are NZ born!

Rugby is the only game in town in NZ but as its a small country the opportunities to play for the top club teams is very limited. Third stringers in NZ can easily get contracts for top European and Japanese teams. Three years later and they can pull on the national jersey.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Why single out Japan?

Japanese blood is important to Japanese people in being Japanese, so it's an issue here. It's blood that makes you naturally able to hold chopsticks or read kanji. Anyone can be an Aussie, a Kiwi or a Brit if they display the necessary national attitude.

This is slightly tongue in cheek, but I feel there's some truth in the theory.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

@zichi not exactly true if said diversity is questioned only when they are not winning.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Boy next door ...and the UK.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

So basically there are only 4 countries playing at this year's World Cup. Tonga, Fiji, NZ and ???

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Weird article. Most of the other teams are full of foreign born players. Why single out Japan?

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

The only people putting the 'spotlight' on this are Kyodo and JT. Everyone else enjoyed watching the win on Friday.

This article is just the usual click bait. Walk around any large city in Japan today and you will see hundreds of foreign tourists enjoying themselves in Japan.

This national rugby team is a glimpse of the future for Japan. The UK (and the US, Germany, Netherlands etc) have had multi-cultural sporting success for decades.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Why is it a problem for Japan to use multiple ethnicities, when other multicultural countries do it without comment?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Educator60Today  09:07 am JST

Why are details, such as Leitch acquired Japanese citizenship in 2013, and Kotaro Matsushima has a Japanese mother, left out of this article?

It is just a poorly written article and skipping on certain facts to prove a point. Matsushima has a Japanese mother, which makes him just as Japanese as south African. But the article wanted to emphasize that the hat trick against russia was from "foreign born player," thus the importance and significance of them on the team. The article should be focusing on players that are "foreign born" and also not ethnically Japanese.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

They need to scrap the residency rule all together or we will end up with a team of NZ born Tongans in red vs 15 NZ born Tongans in blue. Meanwhile, Tonga gets eliminated at the 1st stage.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Rugby is paving the way for other sports in Japan go become more international. Fantastic!

Explain why that would be desirable in the context of World Cup events.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Rugby is paving the way for other sports in Japan go become more international. Fantastic!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Why are details, such as Leitch acquired Japanese citizenship in 2013, and Kotaro Matsushima has a Japanese mother, left out of this article?

Because that isn't what the article is talking about, it is talking about eligibility. Naturalizing or being born mixed raced doesn't factor in here or the issue. The eligibility rules has greatly benefited Japanese rugby and other nations too. People can label such players as "mercenaries", but a lot of the time players who cannot make it into their own national team opt for the eligibility rule so that they can play on the global stage. Also, one thing to take away is that once a player has switched to represent another nation they can't switch again. It is a one-time deal.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Foreign “born” does’t really get to the point. For example, Scotland and Wales have many foreign born players.... Those born in England to Scottish or Welsh parents. There is a huge difference between players with parentage and cultural ties to a country and those who came with a professional rugby contract. (Rugby mercenaries)

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Rugby needs to go to the Olympic standard. No passport, no play.

Tonga, Fiji ,Samoa deserve to have their best players playing for them.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites