＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Speaking of “mixed race” athletes, the name that comes to mind is that of the 48th Yokozuna of sumo wrestling, Taiho (1940-2013).
He was so popular that people would say “Kyojin(Giants), Taiho, Tamagoyaki（fried eggs）,” and he was a “famous Yokozuna of the Showa era” who was a handsome man with impeccable dignity and presence, and won the championship 32 times.
Taiho Zeki’s (real name is Koki Naya [Naya Koki]) father is a “Caucasian Russian” and his mother is Japanese.
His father was a Ukrainian Cossack cavalry officer who defected to Sakhalin after the Russian Revolution.
However, from my childhood to the present, I can’t think of anyone else. There is also the famous F1 driver Aguri Suzuki (born in 1960. His father is half French and half Japanese, so he is a quarter Japanese), but he is not strictly an athlete.
However, the achievements of mixed race-Japanese athletes recently have been remarkable.
1. Naomi Osaka (female professional tennis player)
Naomi Osaka (born in 1997) has a Haitian-American father and a Japanese mother.
Currently, she is legally a dual citizen of the United States and Japan, but has chosen Japan as her “nationality as a tennis player.” (However, she is required to choose one of the two nationalities by the age of 22.)
(*) Naomi Osaka chose Japanese nationality in October 2019.
Above all, what is currently drawing attention about her is that she made it all the way to the finals of the US Open, one of the four major tennis tournaments.
This is the first time that a Japanese woman has achieved this feat.
Even the world’s top player, Kimiko Date (highest ranking in the world was 4th in singles), could only make it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, French Open, and British Open, and the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Kei Nishikori, a male player, made it to the finals of the US Open in 2014, but was the runner-up.
The final will be held at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 9th, Japan time.
You definitely can’t miss the “match of the century” with Serena Williams.
WOWOW will be the exclusive broadcaster on TV, so there will be no live broadcast on NHK or commercial broadcasters. If you subscribe to WOWOW, you can watch the live broadcast on the internet.
<Added 9/9/2018> Congratulations to Naomi Osaka on winning the US Open!
She won in straight sets against Serena Williams. Amazing!!
<Added on 2019/1/26> Congratulations to Naomi Osaka for winning the Australian Open!
She won the tournament after beating Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in a full set.
It’s amazing to win two Grand Slam tournaments and be ranked number one in the world!
<Added 2020/9/13> Naomi Osaka! Congratulations on winning the US Open for the second time!
She won the tournament after defeating Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka in a full set. This is her third Grand Slam title. Her world ranking has risen from 9th to 3rd.
<Added 2021/2/20> Naomi Osaka! Congratulations on your second Australian Open victory!
She won easily against American Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3. This is her fourth Grand Slam title.
This time, she attracted attention by appearing wearing “black masks with the names of victims written on them” (a total of seven people) as a “sign of protest against racism against black people.”
She also appealed to the whole world in her speech after her victory.
Also, at this year’s US Open, it seemed that she had strengthened her mentality, recovering even when she was on the verge of collapsing.
As an aside, her slightly halting Japanese during the interview, such as “I love you all! Thank you” and “I did my best in today’s game. I’ll do my best in the next game too. Good night,” was somehow very charming, along with her smile.
2. Rui Hachimura (NBA basketball player)
Rui Hachimura (born in 1998) is the son of a Beninese father and a Japanese mother.
He hails from Toyama Prefecture and is a big man, 203cm tall and weighing 106kg, but with his agile movements and skillful ball handling, he has been a big star since his debut, scoring a lot of points.
In elementary school, he ran short distances and played baseball, but in junior high school, a classmate encouraged him to try basketball.
After joining the team, he quickly showed his talent, finishing as runner-up in the National Junior High School Basketball Tournament and contributing to his high school team’s victory in the national championships.
After graduating from high school, he went on to Gonzaga University in the United States, where he contributed to the team’s runner-up finish in the NCAA tournament, and was selected by the Washington Wizards in the 2019 NBA draft, leading to his current success.
We look forward to seeing him continue to do well in the future.
3. Asuka Cambridge (sprinter)
Asuka Cambridge (born in 1993) has a Jamaican father and a Japanese mother.
His achievements have been remarkable, including a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the recent Asian Games.
Other successful mixed-race athletes include Major League pitcher Yu Darvish (born in 1986; Iranian father), sumo wrestler Ozeki Takayasu (born in 1990; Filipino mother), female professional golfer Nomura Harukyo (born in 1992; Korean mother), professional baseball player Okoye Rui (born in 1997; Nigerian father), judoka Baker Masumi (born in 1994; American father), javelin thrower Dean Genki (born in 1991; British father), and middle- and long-distance runner Takamatsu Nozomi Musembi (born in 1997; Kenyan father).
<Added on 2019/9/22>
The 2019 Rugby World Cup kicked off on September 20th, and Kotaro Matsushima became the first Japanese player to score a hat trick in Rugby World Cup history in the opening match against Russia, becoming a hot topic of conversation.
Kotaro Matsushima (born in 1993) has a Zimbabwean father and a Japanese mother.
He graduated from Toin Gakuen High School, a prestigious rugby school, and was selected as a candidate for the South African U-20 team while studying rugby abroad, but declined, saying that he wanted to “beat strong teams as the Japanese national team.”
I look forward to seeing him continue to do well as a member of the Japanese national team.