At their inception in ancient Greece, the Olympic games principal meaning was- even more than a celebration of the human body and spirit- a sacred time of peace. The Olympics were a truce honored by every city in Greece. The frequent warfare between towns such as Athens and Sparta would come to a halt. Meanwhile, the conflicts would instead play out peacefully in the arenas, the stadiums, but not on the killing fields. The ancient soldiers shedding their weapons to become athletes, and by doing so, transposing the violence of war into the peaceful competition of sports. This is what sports were always supposed to be: a transposition of deadly aggression into a non lethal form. A catharsis away from violence, a subliminal version of it.

Needless to say modern days Olympics have betrayed this primary requirement of a truce between warriors, a moment of peace between nations. While the London Olympics are unfolding , the nasty business of warfare is taking place all over the planet. Civil war in Syria, war in Afghanistan, drum beats of war against Iran, and illegal assassination programs cowardly perpetrated by the drones of the Obama administration. After thousands of years of complete hiatus, the Olympics were re-invented by a XIX century French aristocrat; the  Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

The founder of modern Olympics lobbied tirelessly, on several continents, in the late 1800s, to eventually gain enough support in Europe and America for an idea which seemed unrealistic and Utopian to most of his contemporaries. Coubertin was finally able to organize the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. At the time sport was synonymous  of amateurism. An activity for gentlemen excluding, by definition, any financial gains. This notion of amateurism, of keeping money out of the Olympics, was very much at the center of Coubertin’s vision for  the modern games. Another notion was primordial to Coubertin. He thought that the Olympics were a great way to promote peace and cooperation between world nations, and even to prevent conflicts by giving national pride a way to express itself.

“May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this name, may the Olympic torch pursue its way through ages, increasing understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure. The Olympic spirit seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of a good example, and respect for universal ethical principles,” said Pierre de Coubertin.

If the idealistic  and somewhat naive French aristocrat was still around today, he would unquestionably be shocked, angered and perhaps ashamed by what happened to all the great principles he was trying to set up ad vitam eternam. The Olympic torch, and what it is supposed to symbolize, has ceased to burn a long time ago. It is now in the realm of smoke and mirrors. The ancient Greeks and Coubertin’s Olympic spirit has been replaced by the forever burning greed of the merchants. Athletes are living and walking billboards for the circus of global capitalism. During the Olympics, wars do not take a break any longer, the killings continue. In either case, the industrial-military complex and global corporations only see the bottom line. Sport just like war is just a very profitable business, and why let such things as peace and the triumph of the human spirit get in the way of good old profit?

Editor’s Note: Photograph number one by Diego’s sideburns and photograph number three by Wayne Hsieh.

Europe is currently taking a little break from its growing debt crisis, a currency issue and tension between members. It is, of course, Euro 2012 which will crown “soccer”‘s European champion. “Soccer” is a word invented by Americans, it is- in my view- a demeaning term for a sport which is accurately called football everywhere else in the world. The term “soccer” only exists in America’s sport lexicon because football was taken by the Americanized version of rugby. So, from then on we will call “soccer”, by its proper universal name: football.

Euro 2012 has entered the quarter final stage. It  has been a very open and high quality competition which came with a few surprises and had games already full of drama inside and outside the stadiums. Prior to the match between one of the host countries-Poland-and Russia, Russian fans marched in the streets. In order to avoid clashes with Polish fans riot police were sent in to intervene and disperse the march of the Russian fans. Both host countries ( Ukraine and Poland) have been eliminated and are now out of the competition. If the tensions anchored in history were palpable during the match opposing Poland to Russia , the current economic and political crisis will make Friday’s game with Germany against Greece explosive.

Chancellor Merkel  is scheduled to attend Friday’s game. Germany is a much better team, but the Greek players will have a whole nation behind them. A nation which feels that, once again, Germany wants to become the master of Europe, this time through economic means not military one. In Greece, recent cartoons of Merkel are portraying her as a new Adolf Hitler. Europe is more passionate about football than about any other sports, and usually it is a way for European nations to express, for better or worse, their national pride. One of the greatest merits a team sport like football possess  is to work out the tensions between nations peacefully, in stadiums not in wars’ killing fields. It is also an arena where the underdog, Greece in the case of Friday’s game, can beat the odds. The eleven players of the Greek team will be lifted by the anger, the passion and the spirit of a whole nation against a country which many Greeks view as the oppressor again, just like during World War II.

International sports, and football is the uncontested top sport worldwide, are a peaceful way for nations to deal with conflicts. The European Union is on shaky ground right now. Many think it has to do mainly with economic parameters, disparities between members on budget balance sheets. But this is not the case. The main issue of Europe, at this juncture is a lack of political will, a lack of vision characterized by Angela Merkel who displays more the personality of an East German accountant as opposed to the one of a political leader. At its inception, the European Union’s main goal was not the creation of some sort of capitalist “free market” for goods and services. It was a decision made so that the monumental  tragedies and atrocities that were World War I and World War II would never happen again.

Euro 2012 is one of the celebrations of the past 67 years of peaceful European history. But for this to be preserved, Germany, the current leader of the EU, has to make compromises and further understand that all the EU members are tied at the hip. If Greece falls, it will shortly- in a cataclysmic domino effect-  be the turn of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy.

On Friday, Germany will play Greece at the Euro 2012, and Germany is projected to win. But the Greek players will play with the spirit  and fire of a nation. Today, Portugal defeated the Czech Republic and will face the winner of the game between Spain and France which takes place on Saturday. In the other quarter final, England will face Italy on Sunday. News Junkie Post forecast is a  final between Spain- the current world and European champion-and Germany, and ultimately a win for Europe’s super-economic power: Germany.

FIFA Photo

It was indeed a Cinderella story for the Japanese women’s soccer team to win the 2011 FIFA World Cup over the US on Sunday. But behind every team there is a story, and these facts may upset you.

After reading a number of articles and blogs, I collected these 4 shocking things that you probably didn’t know about the women in Nadeshiko — the Japanese team selected to enter this year’s FIFA World Cup:

1. They are not professional
In comparison with the US Women’s Soccer Team, Nadeshiko is non-professional. None of these women play “professionally” but instead they are a soccer club that was selected among many to go to Frankfurt to represent Japan. In short, Japan doesn’t have an official national women’s soccer team that is fully sponsored.


2. They are mostly poor
While most of the women in the US Women’s Soccer Team may have come from middle class or upper middle class backgrounds, players in Nadeshiko come from working families. In fact, at least two players worked for TEPCO in Fukushima (where the nuclear plant is), and one works at a grocery store. These players work during the day and practice playing soccer at night.


3. They get paid bread crumbs
Professional male Japanese soccer players are known for making lots of money, buying expensive cars, and having their own cooking chef go with them whenever they play. The women players, however, were flown back to Japan from Frankfurt after winning, get this: on economy class. And, most outrageously, the Japanese Football Association will pay each Japanese woman in the team the equivalent of $13,900 for winning the World Cup. The Japanese men’s national soccer team, would get the equivalent of $442,000 per player if they were to win the World Cup.


4. The captain’s mother

Homare Sawa

What do you think?
The way women in soccer are treated in Japan is really a reflection of how women are viewed in Japanese society in general. Would the Japanese Football Association (JFA) elevate women who play this sport after the victory in Germany? Many Japanese people I’ve asked here in Tokyo don’t think so. But, maybe together we can make a difference, you can write a letter to the President of JFA, Mr. Junji Ogura — the address is in Japan, but it takes less than $1 in postage to mail a letter from the US. Here it is:

JFA House
ATTE: Junji OGURA
3-10-15 Hongo,Bunkyo-ku
Tokyo 113-0033
JAPAN

The JFA has an English website that doesn’t provide much contact information for sending emails, but here is a link: http://www.jfa.or.jp/eng/general_info/index.html

For further reading

Nadeshiko Japan obviously doesn’t do it for the money (The Japan Times)

Women’s soccer a “beautiful flower” for post-disaster Japan (CNN International)

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TOKYO — Japanese soccer fans woke up at 3:30 in the morning to watch the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. For the hard working people of Japan, the game aired on the morning of a national holiday: Marine Day. Those who made the sacrifice to wake up early to cheer for their team will have a chance to sleep in and celebrate later.

The Japanese women’s team victory over the US should be seen as a win-win for women in Asia, but also in the West. This win may have positive effects on how women’s soccer is received in Japan — a country struggling with gender-equality issues. Lifting the status of women around the world benefits us all, specially younger generations of girls who can be empowered by such role models.

Following the US women’s victories during the FIFA World Cup in 1991 and 1999, women’s soccer gained popularity across the board. This was good for the sport and fans, but it was an important step for the fight for gender-equality in the US.

In Japan, today’s victory may raise society’s awareness of how capable women can be not only in sports, but in all facets of Japanese society.

Already morning show hosts in Japan are replaying the highlights of the Japanese women’s victory over a foe they had never beaten before. The Japanese team had been unable to overcome the US, but today’s win marks a different chapter for a high-spirited team that kept it together and persisted until the end.

In this time of recovery, after a tsunami, an earthquake, and a nuclear disaster, Japan deserves some good news.

Omedeto Japan! Congratulations! May this win help improve the status of women everywhere.

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Across the board, how women’s soccer is received by the mainstream is a good thermometer to measure how the struggle for gender equality is doing. In the US, for example, women’s soccer continues to gain greater acceptance from both men and women. The sport is becoming more popular among girls and now they too can dream of one day playing soccer professionally. This break in to a predominantly man’s sport is parallel to the gains women in US society have made in general.

But back in Japan, a country that for the past 50 years has slowly but surely emulated the West in so many ways, the status of women in society continues to lag behind. Here, men believe that the place of women is at home, and for those who go to work, the glass ceiling is higher than the in the US.

According to the UN’s Gender Empowerment Measure, which measures inequalities across the world, in 2009, the country that offered the most equality to women was Sweden (#1), while Norway was #2, Finland was #3, and the US ranked #18. Japan, the 3rd economic power in the world, ranked #57, just slightly ahead of under developed countries like the Philippines, #60.

Gender inequality at the workplace in Japan was so bad that in 1999 the government had to intervene and pass the “Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society.” The law’s principles called on respect for women’s rights, inclusion of women in decision-making, and the sharing of home responsibilities. But women organizations in Japan have criticized how little the law has done to improve the problem and its lack of enforcement and follow up.

According to a 2001 government survey, women earned only 66.9% of what was paid to men. Lack of childcare has also made it difficult for women who want to work, to go to work. The tiny number of women in managerial positions and of women serving in parliament continues to raise red flags. And the list goes on.

Visitors to Japan could easily be fooled by the elegance of Japanese women’s fashion and the attention they get on advertisements and in the entertainment industry (including manga and anime), but the reality is quite hidden. Japanese women at the office have been accustomed to settle as secretaries and to serve as support to their male counterparts.

A win tonight or this afternoon, depending where you’re watching the game (it’s airing in Japan at 3:00 a.m.) could be the break Japanese women have been waiting for. Worldwide recognition of their efforts in the beloved sport of soccer could empower a younger generation and have a deep impact. For the first time in history, Japan would win a FIFA World Cup, and it would do so thanks to girl-power — a power that could be used to reverse Japan’s lagging economy, weak government, and depressed spirits.

Ganbate Japan! Let’s win for your mothers, your daughters, and your sisters.

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