＜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
Following reports of power harassment within the All Japan Judo Federation, it has been reported that Chairman Yamashita Yasuhiro held a press conference at the Kodokan and hinted at the possibility of resigning.
Yamashita serves as chairman of the All Japan Judo Federation and also as chairman of the JOC, and there are concerns that this could have a negative impact on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Power harassment in the sports world became a major issue in 2018, but it seemed to have died down since then. However, just like “bullying,” it appears that it is not going to go away so easily.
1. Power harassment issues in the sports world
Recently, “scandals” of “dons” in the sports world and “power harassment” issues by “upper management” have been revealed one after another and have become a hot topic.
A problem arose over allegations that Uchida, the coach of the American football team of Nihon University, ordered his own Nihon University players to tackle a player of the opposing team, Kwansei Gakuin University, in order to “break” him (“intentional and dangerous foul play”).
The player involved, 19-year-old Taisuke Miyagawa of Nihon University, held a press conference to apologize to the other player and to clarify that he was forced to follow the instructions of coach Uchida. It was a very courageous and favorable press conference.
Subsequently, allegations surfaced that Yamane, the chairman of the Japan Boxing Federation, had “misappropriated” government subsidies, allowed a family company to exclusively sell gloves and other equipment (“profiteering to companies related to his relatives”), and allowed referees to make “unfair judgments” (i.e., to remove a referee if he or she did not agree to the irregularities).
In addition, Japan Gymnastics Association Vice President Tsukahara and head of the women’s training headquarters Tsukahara are now facing criticism over the issue of power harassment.
2. The nature of the sports world where people cannot speak freely to the Don
Coach Hayami of Sae Miyagawa (18 years old) has received a very serious punishment from the Japan Gymnastics Association, “indefinite termination of registration” (the second heaviest punishment after permanent ban) for “violent acts” such as pulling her hair and slapping her face.
When I first heard about this, I felt that it was an “unusually heavy punishment. I thought that this level of “violent behavior” had been common in sports coaching for a long time. Now it may be “absolutely prohibited”…
However, if Japan Gymnastics Association Vice President Tsukahara and Women’s Training Head Tsukahara handed down such harsh sanctions without having done anything wrong, then they can be considered “good coaches.”
However, after watching Miyakawa Sae’s press conference and listening to the subsequent comments of Vice-Chairman Tsukahara and Women’s Training Head Tsukahara, I felt that the truth was completely different, and that the “power harassment” of the Vice-Chairman and Head of Training was a much more malicious and insidious form of bullying.
Even so, I think it took a lot of courage for Miyakawa to hold such a press conference despite being a young 18-year-old.
On the other hand, they must have felt compelled to expose the unfairness of the punishment given to the coach and the severity of the power harassment at the gymnastics association.
Personally, I believe that the two executives of the gymnastics association are the ones who deserve to be permanently banned, but the only way to do this is to wait for the results of an investigation by an impartial third-party committee that has no vested interest in either party.
The other day on TV, Yukio Ikeya spoke about this issue, saying, “For a long time, the gymnastics association has had an atmosphere and structure in which it was impossible to speak freely. In other words, no matter how much you said, it was useless, so you had no choice but to remain silent. We now have a good understanding of the “power harassment” nature of the general manager, who is known as the “queen and empress.
According to Shinji Morisue, at the 1991 All Japan Gymnastics Championships, there was an incident where dissatisfaction erupted over the “judging method” of the judging panel led by Tsukahara, the head of the women’s training headquarters, and 55 of the 91 participating athletes boycotted the competition.
This was the first time I had heard of this. In other words, the judges were giving the points in favor of only the athletes who belonged to the team coached by Tsukahara.
I don’t know the truth of the matter, but having heard about the “Nara Judging” by boxing chairman Yamane, I thought it was a plausible story.
The fact that they initially took a stout stance of “refute and counterattack,” “all-out confrontation,” and “we’ll do it until we win no matter how much money we have to spend,” and then turned around and apologized is as good as an admission that they were “power-harassing.
If they really believe that they have never engaged in power harassment, I think it would be more correct for them to take a thorough fighting stance.
I’m sure it’s very inconvenient for Miyakawa Sae to be caught up in this commotion, but I would like to offer my praise and support for making such a courageous statement in order to drain the pus from the Japan Gymnastics Association.
It would be even better if other athletes who have been victims of similar power harassment would come forward and say “Mee Too!” and cooperate with Miyakawa in eradicating the culture of power harassment from the Gymnastics Association. However, since even Iketani Yukio has given up, it must be quite difficult for individual female athletes to do this.
3. A third-party committee should investigate the matter thoroughly and make every effort to get all the answers out.
Finally, since I believe that this kind of “culture of power harassment and power harassment problems” surely exists among those in power and the upper echelons of other sports organizations, I would like to take this opportunity to urge Suzuki Daichi, Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency, to thoroughly investigate all sports organizations that receive taxpayer money through a third-party committee and make every effort to drain the waters.
As the British historian and thinker John Acton said, “power inevitably corrupts.”