Kirk here. Japan set a new record today for new COVID-19 cases and Kumamoto had almost as many new cases today as yesterday. It’s not raining here in Kumamoto City as I write this but warnings are still in effect. Nonetheless, this time I’d like to set rain and COVID-19 aside and write about a different topic: skateboarding. This post doesn’t have a Kumamoto connection but it has a clear Kyushu connection as gold medalist Sky Brown was born in Miyazaki.
The Time Magazine article acknowledges Sky Brown’s connection to Japan as follows: “Sky Brown, the 13-year-old phenom who skates for the U.K. but was born in Japan, won bronze.” Moreover, the second article I’m citing in this post explains that she “still lives in Miyazaki, but spends half of the year in California, United States, hence the American accent.”
I was interested and, frankly, disappointed when NHK celebrated the gold and silver medals of Sakura Yosozumi and Kokona Hiraki but didn’t even mention that the bronze medalist in the same event had roots in Japan . . . and Japanese citizenship no less (source: Japanese Wikipedia page on her says she has dual citizenship). It’s completely true that Sky was skating for Great Britain but I thought the Japanese side of her identity might at least be mentioned. Even for nationalistic NHK, I thought it would be kind of cool to point out that all of the medalists in this event had a connection to Japan.
Those of you, like me, with children of mixed heritage may share my frustration with this sort of all-or-nothing approach to identity. Naomi Osaka is given attention because she’s playing for Japan (and, of course, she’s great!) but Sky Brown is treated by some media as though she has no connection to Japan whatsoever because she wound up skating for Great Britain. :(
On a more positive note, I read in an article in the Asahi Shimbun that the other Japanese skaters encouraged her and celebrated with her when she did well. The younger generation gives me hope. :)
For an explanation of why Sky competed for Team GB, see the second article.
https://time.com/6087258/womens-park-skateboarding-japan-olympics/
