Japan's uniform has of course changed over the years, this is the current one (I think it's a Nike):
It's rather boring in my opinion, and Japanese uniforms that use the flag design are usually pretty boring in any sport.
I preferred the old Mizuno one that was more stylized and also used black. (Can't find it at the moment though..)
Japan's uniform has of course changed over the years, this is the current one (I think it's a Nike):
It's rather boring in my opinion, and Japanese uniforms that use the flag design are usually pretty boring in any sport.
I preferred the old Mizuno one that was more stylized and also used black. (Can't find it at the moment though..)
Well, I guess I've made it obvious that I'm not a) a big collectibles guy and b) a huge follower of Japanese hockey. That said, I think both the 'fashion' jersey and the 'real' jersey look fairly cool.
I admit I was surprised to see Japan playing during the last Olympics - I didn't think the Japanese were that strong in hockey. ...And that poor defenseman scored on his own goal - man, I thought that guy was going to go hang himself with his own skate laces.
You mean at Nagano 98? Cause Japan sure didn't qualify for Salt Lake 2002
I can't remember that goal. You were actually watching non-Slovakia first round games too? Wow.
Japanese players are getting better, but still a long way off from the world standard (especially now that there are lots of former Soviet nations.) The influx of Japanese-Canadians helped, hopefully it's not just a shot in the arm though.
You mean at Nagano 98? Cause Japan sure didn't qualify for Salt Lake 2002
I can't remember that goal. You were actually watching non-Slovakia first round games too? Wow.
Japanese players are getting better, but still a long way off from the world standard (especially now that there are lots of former Soviet nations.) The influx of Japanese-Canadians helped, hopefully it's not just a shot in the arm though.
I dont think that the Japanese-Canadians thing will go way. There are so many English teachers here who come over as single guys and go on to marry Japanese girls. The big problem is that Japan does not grant duo citizenship (its part of their ethnocentric thing) so when/if those multi national familys move back to Canada their kids loose everything having to do with Japan. (citizenship, ect) Its too bad because some of those guys move back to Canada and their kids get to become decent hockey players and they would love the chance to play on the Japanese national team but they cant.
Many nations don't allow dual citizenships, and it's not just for ethnocentric reasons. And, a Japanese dual national does not have to officially "choose" his citizenship until age 22, until then he's officially allowed to be a dual citizen, so kids who move to Canada will not lose any of their Japanese rights. I should know, I went through the process myself. And even after the "citizenship selection" is made, the person cannot be forced to part with his other citizenship, so it's a law that cannot be enforced. So, there are many de facto Japanese dual nationals that the government turns a blind eye to.
Anyways, I think it's a good idea having players of Japanese descent (Canadians, Americans, Swedish, etc.) to come play in Japan, and maybe even play on the national team if they fullfill the citizenship requirement (which is easy enough to do if one parent is a Japanese national), because higher level players should help motivate the native Japanese players to aim for a higher level themselves. Japanese hockey made no progress during the years it shut out foreign players, but since they opened up the league to foreign players (then the league became the Asian League) and a few Japanese players started playing in Europe and North America, there have definitely been improvements.
That's not the right jersey. It's from a special line called "fashion" jerseys. For example:
That's a Germany fashion jersey
That's the real thing
Incorrect. Jerseys change over the years. The first one was used by Germany in the mid-90s (including the '96 World Cup). The latter is simply the currenty rendition.
hmm...on a side note...how come whenever i play against team Japan in any hockey game they always kick my sorry butt? i can beat any other team, but whenever i play Japan, Ueno (their goalie) always gets a freakin shutout!
not to mention a few of the older games had this guy Saga who always lit me up...
