Foreign Kids "Spoil" Ekiden Races

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Foreign high school students banned from opening leg of ekiden race
Bowing to complaints from disgruntled fans, a high school athletic association will prohibit foreign students from running the first leg of the All-Japan High School Ekiden Championships relay marathon starting next year. The All Japan High School Athletic Federation said the decision, reached Tuesday, is intended to make the races more interesting for fans. But others say the move reeks of discrimination against foreign students. In recent years, especially in the boys' division, many students from Kenya have started the first--and longest--section of the ekiden races. They have often built such wide leads that rival teams have had almost no chance to catch up in the later legs. Ekiden fans and organizers said the strategies of those teams have made the races dull because the huge early leads all but eliminate the chances for the drama of a close finish... Keisuke Sawaki, a director of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, said the high school federation likely had an "agonizing" time coming up with its decision. "From the standpoints of 'internationalization' and school education, it would be ideal not to have any restrictions," he said. "In reality, however, the differences in physical capabilities between Japanese and foreign students are far beyond imagination"...more...

[sublight]

In fairness, though, I somehow doubt that all these high schools are inviting Kenyan students solely to give kids from overseas an exposure to another culture.

"Well I'll be!" Said a principal at one of the schools, "These international students are good at running? Who knew?"

[alsmalls]

This is so rascist. Now please tell me how you be the best if you cant compete with the best?. Some United States races tried this because Kenyans win most Marathons but it didnt work. I won't be amazed if Kenyans still win the race even given the early advantage that Japanese are giving themselves.
Please Japanese Race oficials or whoever passed this stop the Rascism. This is a bad example to all kids of all races.

[Ke11iente]

This seems about normal. Japan is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.... as long as those people are Japanese. If you are not Japanese, they only want your food. So build a restaurant and quietly behave yourself.

[Blah Pete]

Don' want to expose the little darlings to any real competition. Since most people only watch the beginning of the race and it usually ends up on TV news the J-folks probabbly are uneasy seeing so many dark faces.

[Greji]

Don' want to expose the little darlings to any real competition. Since most people only watch the beginning of the race and it usually ends up on TV news the J-folks probabbly are uneasy seeing so many dark faces.

I am most interested in the "angry fans" and so forth. I have yet to see this to any extent. Must comments about the FG runners have been more in awe and respect for the ability.

Knowing more than a little about the inner working in school sports in Japan, I suspect you will find the "angry" are the losing coaches and staff.

These are the people who normally must file any complaints with the regional and national school sports authorities in order for them to act.

Dave Spector just sent me an email on this, he has already discussed on one of his talk shows, saying they should equally bar Japanese students in the states from sports, judo, whatever.

Debito is also lining up on this subject, since it is in his areas of interest. Should be fun to watch what happens next.

[Taro Toporific]

[TFG]

International Ekiden with only Japanese...will we be surprised when a Japanese wins? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa:D

[Greji]

International Ekiden with only Japanese...will we be surprised when a Japanese wins? Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa:D

Nah, the FGs are just not allowed to run the first leg to give the J-runners more of a chance.

For example if the FG runs the first leg in nine minutes and the J-kid runs 11 minutes that is too much of a lead.

Now if the second runners are both J-kids and the run in ten minutes than the FG added team has a 19 minutes elapsed time compared to the all J-team which has 21 minutes. Completely unfair!

So now they have to put the two J-runners first and at 10 and 11 minutes it is a better race. The FG then runs the second leg in 9 minutes with the 10 minute showing from the All Japan team. That means the FG added team will have a time of 19 minutes and the all Japan runners will have 21 minutes.

Much more fair deshou? Another example of great minds at work!

[GomiGirl]

In fairness, though, I somehow doubt that all these high schools are inviting Kenyan students solely to give kids from overseas an exposure to another culture.

"Well I'll be!" Said a principal at one of the schools, "These international students are good at running? Who knew?"

I think you have hit the nail on the head here. High schools and colleges all over the world do this though - invite students who have a talent in something the school wants to be known for - especially in the sporting arena.

The difference in this japanese version is that it is so easy to "spot the ringer" that the foreign kids are being punished rather than the school inviting them.

[DrP]

Hmmm, I guess this will cause some rift with the latest visa quota increases to African nations .... DOH!

[Doctor Stop]

Scenes like this just disturb the Wa, and as we know so well, they don't want the Wa disturbed:

[emperor]

My mum says my grandfather took part in the 1936 olympics (representing Germany) - but we dont know in what capacity, probably athletics or football - apparently there's a loads of old relics at a relatives house in Poland which might give some clues - google has turned up nothing... [maybe if he had won a medal it would make things easier]

[Samurai_Jerk]

I met a Japanese guy years ago who was a damn good wrestler and attending college at Iowa State which has one of the strongest wrestling teams in the world. He was on team and he told me wasn't allowed to compete in nationals because he wasn't a US citizen. I remember thinking it was pretty fucking stupid at the time. And like the decision for the Ekiden I still think it's pretty fucking stupid.

[Charles]

I met a Japanese guy years ago who was a damn good wrestler and attending college at Iowa State which has one of the strongest wrestling teams in the world. He was on team and he told me wasn't allowed to compete in nationals because he wasn't a US citizen.

No. Wrestling national championships are under NCAA rules and they have eligibility rules that specifically allow foreigners. Here are the 2007 NCAA International Student eligibility rules (PDF).
But then, general intercollegiate wrestling competitions are also under NCAA rules, you can't compete in matches against other NCAA teams if you're not eligible. I think your buddy was bullshitting you, the team let him work out and train with them but he wasn't actually on the team and didn't compete.

[Samurai_Jerk]

No. Wrestling national championships are under NCAA rules and they have eligibility rules that specifically allow foreigners. Here are the 2007 NCAA International Student eligibility rules (PDF).
But then, general intercollegiate wrestling competitions are also under NCAA rules, you can't compete in matches against other NCAA teams if you're not eligible. I think your buddy was bullshitting you, the team let him work out and train with them but he wasn't actually on the team and didn't compete.

Could be that he was full of shit. I actually only met him once and it's been years so my recollection of what he said is probably pretty murky too. Maybe it was just an excuse for not being good enough to go to nationals.

It still doesn't change my opinion about ekiden though. Fucking stupid. And I'm not even talking racism here. From the point of developing Japanese athletics it makes sense to make their kids compete against the best.

[Behan]

Didn't they also kick all of the F(emale)FGs out of the women's professional(?) basketball league some time back. I think they said that Japanese players weren't developing because of the presence of so many good, dominating foreign players.
I feel sorry for the Kenyan runners, though. Especially for the kids already here. Perhaps they could grandfather clause this racism.

[6810]

Step up!

fuck man, isn't that what competitive sport is all about?

I mean, Japanese pride themselves on their successes and their gambare spirit.

SO for fuck's sake, instead of bullshitting their way to an athletic advantage, why not try harder.

Fucking piss weak. Just like Takechan..

[maraboutslim]

Ekiden is more than just a sporting event. It's basically become a cultural institution. It's not right to bring in kids just because they are fast and will help the team. That's lame and I wouldn't allow it either.

Now, if there is a kid legitimately attending a school because his parents came to Japan for work, then he should be allowed to compete. But otherwise, ban the whole practice of importing and using these kids as runners and let the Japanese have their festival like the good ol' days.

[Doctor Stop]

I mean, Japanese pride themselves on their successes and their gambare spirit.

And their "four seasons", which doesn't seem to be helping them in the Ekiden department.

Off topic, but I bet that there's an LDP thinktank working right now to put a four seasons reference somewhere in the new constitution.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Groups try to level playing field by limiting foreign players

The slogan of high school sport associations could be: If you can't beat 'em, ban 'em. The associations have introduced tough restrictions on foreign students because they are trouncing the Japanese athletes in sports such as the ekiden relay marathon, basketball and table tennis. The restrictions followed protests from Japanese fans who say the superior ability of the foreign students is making the sporting events dull. In May, the All Japan High School Athletic Federation decided to ban foreign students from running the first leg in the All Japan High School Ekiden Championships, which is held in Kyoto every December. For the boys' division, the total course of 42.195 kilometers is split into seven legs, with the 10-km first section the longest. In the championships in December 2006, four Kenyan students ran in the first leg. The slowest Kenyan was still 30 seconds faster than the quickest Japanese runner.

Sumio Shokawa, secretary-general of the All Japan High School Athletic Federation's track and field division, said an ekiden fan sent an e-mail complaining: "No Japanese students are shown on TV. That was like an African championship." Another disgruntled e-mailer told Shokawa: "The schools bring the foreign students here just to publicize the names of their schools. They are not suitable for high school sport competitions." In the past few years at the ekiden championships, fans of Japanese athletes gather at the Nishi-Kyogoku track and field ground in Kyoto to protest to the participation of foreign students. The number of foreign students is increasing in other sports, much to the chagrin of many locals. According to the high school athletic federation, 293 foreign students were registered in 32 prefectures in 2006.

As the number of foreign students has grown, so have the number of restrictions. In basketball, for example, a school can have only one foreign student on the court. In soccer, only two foreign students from the same school are allowed on the pitch at the same time. Senegalese students are drawing attention in basketball. Noshiro Technical High School in Akita Prefecture, which has won the national high school championships as many as 20 times, was defeated by schools with Senegalese students in the past two years. In the 2005 championships, the finals pitted Fukuoka Dai-ichi High School in Fukuoka Prefecture against Nobeoka Gakuen High School in Miyazaki Prefecture. Both teams had Senegalese students taller than 2 meters. Foreign high school students who play table tennis are mainly from China. Over the past 15 years, Chinese students have won the national inter-high school championships eight times in the boys' singles division and 11 times in the girls' singles division. Currently, a school can have only one foreign student on its table-tennis team. In addition, foreign students cannot be on the same side for doubles matches.

Some have doubts on the restrictions on foreign students. They say the Japanese students should just work harder. One is Shinya Iwamoto, coach of the track team at Sera Senior High School in Hiroshima Prefecture. The prefectural school, which has accepted Kenyan students since 2002, won the national high school ekiden championships in 2006 for the first time in 32 years. "Kenyan students are making greater efforts than their Japanese counterparts," Iwamoto said. "Their attitudes have raised the level of the entire team."