Skip to main content

Dark Side of the Rising Sun

For all the good things that happened this year, just like anywhere else Japan had its share of problems. In sports, speed skater Kei Saito's doping suspension at the Pyeongchang Olympics, the harassment case around coach Kazuhito Sakae and Olympic gold medalist wrestler Kaori Icho, and the Nihon University football scandal involving head coach Masato Uchida directing a player to deliberately take out the opposing team's quarterback were some of the bigger stories, but in athletics as well there was no shortage of problems. From actions ranging from the individual to the systemic and societal, from doping to corruption to abuse and harassment, a quick list of the year's lows two years out from Tokyo 2020.

Drugs and Injections

'Top Canoeist Suspended for Framing Rival for Doping'

Why is the Number of Doping Offenders Growing in Once-Upon-a-Time Clean Japan?

National Corporate Women's Ekiden Champion Team to be Stripped of Title After Member Tests Positive

Nakamura on Positive Drug Test: "I Had Gynecological Issues I Didn't Want Anyone to Know About"

Official Statement From Corporate Federation Director Nishikawa on Anti-Doping Violation and Sanction

JADA Disciplinary Panel Ruling Against Moeno Nakamura

Iron Injections Remain an Issue in Japanese High School Girls' Distance Running

JAAF Cracking Down on Iron Injection Abuse, to Require Blood Testing at National High School Ekiden

Ethics, Grift and Malfeasance

20 km Racewalk World Record Holder Suzuki Suspended 6 Months for False Expense Claims

Family of Woman Who Died Last Fall Sue Race Organizers After She Fell in Ocean During Race Four Years Ago

Ekiden Runner Who Got Team Disqualified at National Championships Arrested on Fraud Charges

Official Caught Manipulating Results to Get Junior High School Athletes Into National Championships

Two City Council Members Asked to Resign Over Misappropriation of Subsidies for Local Road Race

'National Expenditure for Tokyo Olympics Set to Run 7 Times Over Earlier Budget Estimate: Report'

Komazawa University to Establish Third-Party Committee to Investigate Claims of Strife Between Coach Oyagi and School President

National Corporate Federation Under Investigation for Violation of Antitrust Law in Restriction on Athletes Changing Teams

Coaching Abuses and Athlete Mental Health

Former World Championships Marathoner Hara Arrested Again for Shoplifting Candy

Former World-Class Marathoner Hara Admits to Shoplifting During Athlete Days Due to Coach's Severe Weight Restrictions

How a Former National Team Level Marathoner Developed an Eating Disorder

University Coach Who Lost High School Position After Abusing Students Accused of Abuse

Nittai University Head Coach Masaaki Watanabe Fired Over Abuse Scandal

Star First-Year Quits Toyo University Alleging Violence by Teammates; Teammates Allege He Had a Bad Attitude

Hot Weather and the Tokyo Olympics

Six University Meet Cancels 5000 m Because It Was Just Too Damned Hot

An Endless Heat Wave - Will the Olympics Really Be OK?

Money First for a Midsummer Olympics? Just Can't Say No to Those American TV Dollars

'Call for Tokyo Olympic Marathon to Start at 5.30am to Avoid Deaths'

No Discussion of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Marathon Start Time at IAAF Council Meeting

Sexual Harassment

High School Teacher Suspended for Sexually Harassing Member of Girls' Track Team

JAAF Marathon Project Leader Seko Given Official Warning After Sexual Harassment Accusation by Female TV Announcer

Aging Society

Heisoko Ekiden Cancelled As Race Organizers Get Too Old

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Restaurant Owner Selected as Olympic Torchbearer Dies in Fire After Becoming Despondent Over Impact of Coronavirus Crisis (updated)

On the evening of Apr. 30, the 54-year-old male owner of a restaurant in Tokyo's Nerima ward specializing in tonkatsu deep fried pork cutlets died from full-body burns in a fire at the restaurant. The man had been one of the people chosen as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics torch relay. With the coronavirus crisis causing both the postponement of the Olympics and a loss of business at the restaurant, the man had recently started talking pessimistically about the future to those around him. With evidence of the man's body having been doused in tonkatsu cooking oil, metropolitan police from the Hikarigaoka Police Station are carefully examining the cause of the fire. At around 10:00 p.m. on the 30th, the fire broke out in the tonkatsu restaurant on the first floor of a three-story building. A neighborhood resident who noticed smoke called the fire department. Firefighters found the floor and part of a wall burning, with the man lying on the floor in the customer seat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kawauchi Wins Inaugural Kawauchi Half Marathon

http://www.minyu-net.com/sports/running/FM20160501-070419.php translated by Brett Larner 川内優輝ロード pic.twitter.com/rEJk7CQPFV — みとっぽ (黒) (@mitoppo_tmyk) April 30, 2016 Yuki Kawauchi Road in Kawauchi, Fukushima Held to inspire former residents to return to the area after the nearby TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident five years ago, the village of Kawauchi held the first " Kawauchi no Sato Kaeru Half Marathon - From Reconstruction to Creation " on April 30.  The course started and finished at the village heliport.  1188 runners from across the country gathered to celebrate the village's revival as they ran through its springtime streets. The event's organizing committee was made up of local government and board of education members with support from the Fukushima Minyu Newspaper and other sponsors.  The race's purpose was to transmit the vitality and charm of the reconstructing Kawauchi village to the rest of the nation in hopes of helpin...
Post a Comment
Read more