G’day! This is Nunnster, long term subscriber of loneleeplanet. Having always enjoyed the articles on this site about the lighter side of Japanese culture, it is indeed an honour to be invited to provide the following guest article, reporting from Australia.
Sean Yoshiura created history by being the first ever Japanese-born player to be signed by an Australian Rules Football League (AFL) club. The 18 year-old Tokyo-born wingman was signed as a rookie by the AFL club Brisbane Lions. A world-class schoolboy cross country runner, he moved to Australia with his Japanese father and Tasmanian mother when he was seven.
Proving to be quite the all-rounder, academically gifted Yoshiura became the school captain at Ipswich Grammar School in 2008 graduating with a string of academic and sporting distinctions.
Yoshiura will be the second Asian-born player to have played AFL. The first was Peter Bell, a Korean-born orphan brought to Australia as a toddler.
Korean-born Peter Bell
This is not the first time that the Japanese have interacted with the game of AFL. Back in 2005, after an impressive performance in the AFL International Cup, Michito Sakaki was named in the Essendon side to play in an exhibition match against the Sydney Swans. Although not an official AFL match, Sakaki became the first non-Irish international player to learn the game overseas and play it at an elite level in Australia.
The real news however, is why has it taken so long for a Japanese to take this first step into Australian Rules Football? Japanese took a liking to baseball and now, no less than 41 Japanese-born players played in at least one Major League Baseball (MLB) game through the 2009 season.
Perhaps it is because the AFL have committed the international faux pas of including their country’s name in the sport’s title – Australian Rules Football – thus limiting their success to their own country; not unlike American Football.
However, Australian Rules Football and American Football are the only two football codes whereby in the process of scoring, it is commonplace for team mates to put their bodies on the line to protect their man with the ball. In other words, for the good of the team, a player will sacrifice their own well-being by obstructing or wiping out a defender for the advancement of the team.
Being raised in this football culture transcends into the country’s culture. For example, the US Marines’ credo is ‘Leave no man behind’ and in Australia it is considered un-Australian or unpatriotic to not ‘look after your mates’.
Sean Yoshiura has demonstrated new levels of commitment to Australia’s most popular football code. Mt Gravatt Aussie Rules coach, David Lake said of Yoshiura:
“He’s an exceptional young man…. He is the only player I’ve ever had who has thanked me for every game, who thanks you after training… He caught the train from the Gold Coast straight after uni three nights a week to train and never missed a session even before he was in the senior side, he is that committed.”
Should Sean Yoshiura succeed at Australian Rules Football and the Japanese learn of this sport, then Australia may not succeed in their own home brand of football in just a few generations.
When I wrote ‘for the good of the team, a player will sacrifice their own well-being by obstructing or wiping out a defender for the benefit of the team’ did not the term kamikaze spring to mind?
In a nation where honour is paramount in character traits, Australian Rules Football is a far better mesh with the Nippon culture than soccer, where rolling on the ground clutching at your ankle in the hope of a free kick is revered while honour looks the other way.
While I wish Sean Yoshiura all the very best for his career in Australian Rules Football, I can only hope and pray that news of his participation in this most noble and honourable of football code does not reach his homeland, because as an Australian, I don’t think I could cope with my grandson playing Japanese Rules Football (formerly known as AFL) in 2050.
The Yokohamarama
Japanese Baseball Bat
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scott j
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Chris
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lina
freedomwv
Fidel
nice article about a successful japanese born who makes it to the top level in an Australian pussy footy team. Now if he was playing the real kamikaze sport, he’d be playing rugby league.
The generous spirit of AFL in educating young internationals whose culture and ethics are in keeping with the code is great to see.
This young man certainly deserves his place. Had he been a Mongolian Yak herder, perhaps Rugby League would have been able to recruit him.
Nunnster, thanks for your contribution! Certainly sounds like Sean Yoshiura is one to keep an eye on. Will be interesting to see how he goes.
Anyways, as he is a hybrid (i.e. half Japanese/half Aussie), I wonder how long it will be before the first full-blooded Japanese player, who learned the sport in Japan, plays AFL.