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The story
Shin Yoshida (30), the Japanese coach leading Thailand’s women’s national volleyball team, revealed on Instagram on August 31 that he has been receiving online abuse. Thailand recently won the Asian Championship, but Yoshida clarified that “leaving the Japan national team was not something I chose to do,” explaining that he took his current post after being invited by the Thailand Volleyball Association and its head coach once his contract with Japan had ended. On a 5ch thread, many posters voiced support, saying they “don’t understand why he’s being attacked,” while others speculated — based on rumors about his personal relationships — about his motives, with many posts showing little basis in fact.
Shin Yoshida (30), the Japanese coach of the Thailand team that won the Women’s Asian Volleyball Championship, updated his Instagram on August 31. Having served as an analyst and interpreter for the Japan national team until last year, he is now supporting Thailand this year, and he revealed that he has faced criticism and abuse stemming from misunderstandings of the facts.
Yoshida said, “Let me explain the facts in my own words, just this once, regarding the parts that have been misunderstood,” and described the circumstances behind his appointment as Thailand’s coach. “It is not the case that I myself wished to leave the Japan national team and decided this,” he wrote, adding:
He revealed that after his contract with the Japan national team expired at the end of last year, he took his current position after being approached by the Thailand Volleyball Association and head coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, among others. “My gratitude for the time I spent with the Japan national team, and my respect for Japanese volleyball, remain unchanged. And now, with gratitude and a sense of responsibility toward the Thailand team that needed me, I’m giving everything I have to the job in front of me,” he wrote.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Is there something wrong with a Japanese coach getting results overseas? That's something to be proud of.
Because he became Thailand's coach… and ended up beating Japan lol
Feels like that dark age after Obayashi retired and Ichiko Sato took over.
Wasn't Ichiko Sato the captain back when Obayashi was still a rookie?
Are people calling him some kind of traitor who abandoned Japan?
Re: #15
During the baseball WBC, Isao Harimoto (a Korean resident of Japan) got flooded with criticism for giving South Korea's manager info on Japanese pitchers.
Is he translating Kansai dialect or something?
The analyst part makes sense, but the interpreter part is a mystery lol
Are there players who aren't fluent in Japanese or something? lol
An analyst is someone who studies and analyzes the opponents' tactics and proposes strategy. In pro soccer overseas, they're well paid.
It's needed because it's coach (English) → players and staff (Japanese).
There's probably a dedicated interpreter for the coach too, but if the analyst is fluent enough in English to interpret as well, communication flows more smoothly.
All three of Japan's starting outside hitters are under 180cm.
Bigger isn't everything, but isn't that a bit too small?
Didn't expect Thailand to be the bigger team.
Ever since the social media era, doesn't it feel like a handful of loud voices online get reported as if the whole country is up in arms?
And there are plenty of outlets eager to turn that into an article about 'voices online are saying…'
I don't see why anyone would be mad.
His job is to win with whatever team he's got.
Nah, not really.
Soccer has this AFC power game going on,
so it actually helps us if he goes to Thailand and gets results there —
it makes other countries more willing to listen to Japan.
Going up against the wealthy Middle Eastern federations to get your way through is tough.
If Japan lost to a Moriyasu-led China, you idiots would obviously just praise Moriyasu instead.
Volleyball and soccer aren't even comparable sports.
They just can't stand that he helped Southeast Asian Thailand win, lol
More than that, it's because Thailand's head coach has a personal grudge from the past (he himself once got two red cards, then lost a comeback match to Japan) and was fired up to beat Japan.
Sounds like misplaced resentment to me, honestly.
They should feel honored just to have competed in such a great tournament.
The match's already decided at that point, so let's have a 'no side' spirit —
I'd like to see smiles on the podium.
Do that and someone will just complain that they're smiling despite losing.
People probably assumed he got poached and left.
In reality, Japan didn't want to extend his contract, and it turned into a 'well then, come to us' situation.
I genuinely don't get why he's being attacked over this.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Shin Yoshida, originally an analyst and interpreter for the Japan national team, explained on his own Instagram that after his contract ended, he took the Thailand coaching job at the invitation of the Thailand Volleyball Association and head coach Radchatagriengkai. It’s not unusual in international competition for a coach to end up on the opposing side from their home country’s team — the thread itself brought up the example of Isao Harimoto, who was criticized for providing information to South Korea’s team during the WBC. At the same time, some posts on the thread speculated — based on unconfirmed claims that Yoshida is in a relationship with a Thai national team player — that he became the team’s analyst in order to pass along information, but no supporting reporting was presented, and this contradicts the account Yoshida himself has given. Since such poorly substantiated personal attacks risk reproducing the very abuse at issue, they have been left out of the main article. Readers should keep in mind the distinction between the sequence of events Yoshida states explicitly — contract expiration followed by an invitation from the Thai side — and the unconfirmed speculation that has spread online.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Volleyball] Thailand’s Japanese Coach Suffers Online Abuse, “It Wasn’t My Own Wish to Leave the Japan National Team” — Also Reported by Local Media.”
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