Copy Ningyo

[cstaylor]

Just finished watching Japan move into the next round of the World Cup... my wife was laughing everytime they cut over to Troussier and his "copy ningyo" translator... that guy gets on my nerves.

[kamome]

Apparently, that guy has published his own autobiography already. All I know is that he comes from a wealthy French family, that punk ass.

[cstaylor]

View from the sidelines: Troussier's aide finds his own voice

Seldom have I been asked to do a posed photo shoot before an interview.

So naturally I was taken aback when the personal assistant and interpreter to Japan national team coach Philippe Troussier asked our photographer to take him from his ``best side.'' I demanded a reason.

``I don't like having people taking my picture like this,'' Florent Dabadie said politely before twisting his lips and bulging his eyes to imitate the photo from a previous interview. He said he has been ``framed'' too many times by a media intent on portraying him as an oddball.

and

Born to a famous movie director and a journalist, Dabadie first came to Japan as a university student, during which time he developed a keen insight into the culture and people

[cstaylor]

Troussier aide Dabadie delivers a well-aimed shot at prejudice

[kamome]

OK, Dabadie may come off as arrogant, but he makes a good point here:

``I feel uncomfortable with the way that Japanese, particularly television commentators, are preoccupied with praising every move by the Japanese athletes,'' he said. Dabadie feels that Japanese miss out on the opportunity to analyze and learn from the opponent's side when they direct the camera only on the Japanese players.

Whenever Japanese players are participating in a sport, it is true that the Japanese media focuses only on those players and completely ignores the non-Japanese players. You see it all the time with Ichiro--the media completely ignores every other aspect of the Mariners' team and the other teams they play.

By the way, wtf is up with Tanpopo? I admit I like the film, but Dabadie seems obsessed with it.

[cstaylor]

Whenever Japanese players are participating in a sport, it is true that the Japanese media focuses only on those players and completely ignores the non-Japanese players

Not entirely true. Whenever they show Shinjo, they show a couple of Bonds' hits... plus you're only looking at highlights, MLB games are shown on TV over here, and they show the whole game (not just Ichiro at the plate).

It's a vicious cycle: the media only shows Japanese players because Japanese are primarily interested in those players (because they were famous over here at one point), and the people care about the Japanese players because that's all the media shows them.