Media Start Eating Humble Pie over Treatment of Snowboarder Kokubo

The media explosion over the ‘Kokubo scandal’ over the last week was one of the biggest feeding frenzies over nothing that I’ve seen in the Japanese media in a while – and they are very good at feeding frenzies over trivial things.

I first heard about Olympic snowboarder Kokubo Kazuhiro’s ‘fashion choices’ and ‘attitude’ from some Japanese people, and they were not impressed. But then I actually saw the video that they were referring to. It seems that the main points of contention were that he 1) wore his pants too low; 2) had his shirt tucked out; 3) had a stud in his nose; and 4) had dread locks. Personally, I don’t go for the low hanging pants, don’t have enough hair for dreadlocks, and I’m not big on putting holes in myself either… But that’s just me. For a young elite athlete like Kokubo, I really didn’t see much wrong with it. I’m sure I’ve looked far worse myself…

Well for these apparent crimes against humanity, he was hounded and slandered and bashed by many media commentators, and he was finally forced to account for his poor taste in fashion at a press conference. After being asked to explain himself, he muttered something under his breath (he called the reporters ‘urusai’, or annoying – a sentiment I heartily agree with in principle…) which became another hanging crime, and eventually led to him being barred from attending the Opening Ceremony with all of the other Japanese athletes.

This was ridiculous enough, but then I heard that his own University, the Sapporo Campus of Tokai University had not only released a press statement extending their regret for having such a pathetic student (yes, how pathetic of them to have allowed such a skilled Olympic athlete to be a part of their institution…), but on top of that, they went so far as to cancel an event that had been planned at the university for today, to watch Kokubo compete in Vancouver. Now that was just petty and completely unnecessary. If I were Kokubo’s agent (or parent), I would be releasing a press statement right about now, apologizing for allowing Kokubo to be a part of such a petty institution…

There is little question that Kokubo is different from what most Japanese people would (and do) expect of a top class athlete. And I will concede that there have been moments over the last week in which he may have helped his cause a little more with just a touch more humility or tact. Still, the whole reason for him being there in the first place, and the reason why he is such a talented snowboarder, is BECAUSE he is different, and BECAUSE he doesn’t make every decision in his life based on what someone else might think of him.

This morning (conveniently just hours before Kokubo was due to compete with what many were tipping to be a medal winning performance), the media began to change their tune a little. I saw former snowboarding Olympian Fushimi Chikako on TBS this morning, and she was talking up the fact that Kokubo is a ‘tensai’ (gifted) snowboarder. She also commented that in this field, ‘crazy ja nai to dekinai’ (you have to be crazy to be good at it). She explained the culture of high level snowboarding (which, yes, is quite different from the culture of OLs that make the occasional weekend trip to the snow to ‘snowboard’), and how the top athletes need to be confident, daring, fearless, and even arrogant, just to survive.

Then came the stories across other networks throughout the day about how Kokubo was such a well respected friend and athlete, with testimonials from everyone that knows him well. School friends, people that had trained with him, and others were suddenly painting him as the nicest guy in the world, patient, kind, even kind of sweet… The complete opposite of the slanderous frenzy just days ago. There was even the obligatory story of how he had supported a friend through cancer, and how the friend was able to snowboard again thanks to his great friend’s support and kindness… This story had it all. And just in time for the media to be able to feel justified in their celebrations should Kokubo actually win a medal today…

In fact, he didn’t win a medal. In the final, he was unable to match the results that he had marked earlier in the heats, and finished 8th overall. In the heat, Kokubo had produced two great efforts, placing him in third place overall heading into the final after a top score of 42.5 out of a possible 50. But in the final he was only able to produce scores of 30.5 and 35.7 (well below his best). These things happen, and, at 21, he still has plenty of time to come back and try again next time. But I can’t help but wonder if the frenzy earlier in the week had put just that little bit too much pressure on him. If it were me, I would definitely have wanted to go out there and stick it to everyone that had been bagging me all week. We will never know how this helped or hindered him. But hopefully he will come back bigger and better next time, and just let his talent do the talking…

Related posts:

1. Takahashi takes Bronze in Men’s Figure Skating
2. Rivalry on Ice: Kim Gold, Asada Silver
3. Kim Yu-Na’s $1 Million World Record
4. Silver! Japanese Ladies Team Pursuit Speed Skating Team lose by 0.03 seconds to Germany
5. 7, 6, 5, 4… Uemura Aiko Narrowly Misses out Again

Tags: Japanese Media, Kokubo Kazuhiro, Snowboarding, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics