WTT Pairs SP

[redwing]

I would think it must be a bit easier for Mervin to get Japanese citizenship, if only both Mervin and JSF will go all for it and plead the government for a special treatment to relax (=lower) its requirements in his case.

I remember Rugby National team had 10 players who were originally non Japanese to compete for the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand, and five of them were registered as the naturalized Japanese citizens.
Other example I can think of is Sumo. We have many Sumo wrestlers who were originally born in Mongolia, and are now officially naturalized Japanese. I do not believe all of these rugby players and sumo wrestlers actually filled in all the requirements, such as to speak perfect Japanese and/or write decent Japanese. With the strong back-up by its federation, there must be some exceptions applicable for a sport, maybe?

Out of the 5 rugby players, one 1 was a rare exception in that it took him just over a year. The rest took much, much longer. They also live and train in Japan, which Tran does'nt do.

There's a reason why Japan is one of the most homogenous nations in the world and citizenship is very difficult to obtain. Tran doesn't speak Japanese and has made NO EFFORT to integrate himself into Japanese society. He doesn't deserve citizenship.

Also, I'm not completely sold on T/T as olympic medal contenders so I wouldn't approve of citizenship based on some offchance they may medal if other teams do poorly.

[deedee1]

Out of the 5 rugby players, one 1 was a rare exception in that it took him just over a year. The rest took much, much longer. They also live and train in Japan, which Tran does'nt do.

One of the reasons, the biggest reason I would say, they do not live and train in Japan is there are no ice rinks available at all for pair teams to train, so that means they can not literally train in Japan.
Besides, in Japan there are not decent Japanese coaches and/or male skaters for pairs, aren't they? I thought that was the main reason for Utako Wakamatsu, Rena Inoue and Yuko Kawaguchi had to leave Japan, find a partner and compete in the international circuit over the years. Even Yukari Nakano, when she was younger, had a try out for a pair with an American male skater in the US, and considered and weighed seriously the possibility to switch to a pair skater at one point in her competitive career.

[redwing]

Deedee I respect your opinion and agree there is a shortage of rinks to train at, it seems the number keeps dwindling. However Tran has made no effort to integrate himself into Japanese society, so he doesn't deserve citizenship. He hasn't expressed any desire of living there so why should he become a citizen ?

JSF is at fault because they promote singles over pairs and ice dancing to the young skaters. They need to invest more funds and support into those fields instead of taking the easy way out and trying to fast track a foreigner for citizenship.

[deedee1]

JSF is at fault because they promote singles over pairs and ice dancing to the young skaters. They need to invest more funds and support into those fields instead of taking the easy way out and trying to fast track a foreigner for citizenship.

redwing, I agree with you. JSF kind of went after easy money, didn't they?

I am gald and happy for them that a lot of Japanse skaters could achieve good results on the international circuit so far. I respect them for their hard work and adore their lovely personalities, too. Do not get me wrong, but to be honest with you, I love this sport for decades, and have cheered and will cheer for our skaters and other skaters anyway, regardless Japanese skaters' success or not.

OTOH, that part of figure skating in Japan in general; JSF went after easy money (=sponsorship) and TV ratings, has always annoyed me over the years, especially since around 2004-05 when Miki and Mao burst onto the scene as cutie wonder kids...
It seems to me ironical that it's backfiring JSF now, when the Team event is about to be introduced as a new figure skating competition at the Olympic Games which is only two years away...

[redwing]

I agree, it's insulting to Japanese skaters in pairs and dance who struggle to get hardly any recognition or support from JSF to see them push for a foreigner to get citizenship to represent Japan at the Olympics.