I realize many didn't watch this game since the US didn't appear, but the Japanese and Cubans played a pretty good game. There were a few errors, but that was probably late inning nerves. I had hoped to see the Venezuela in the final, but loved watching actual teams play -- as opposed to collections of superstars.
I do wonder why the team wore Japan on their jerseys instead of Nippon. Was it a decision just for American television? Italy wore Italia jerseys. The Netherlands wore Nederland jerseys. Why was Nippon called Japan? How would we feel if we played a game in France and had to wear ESU jerseys?
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Gosh... that's a funny question.
I always find it amazing where I see English crop up here in Germany. I was in a mass electronics store (think Best Buy like) last week and in the stereo section, there were whole systems that had their features described only in English.
# Posted by: Adam at March 23, 2006 2:32 AM
Well, the ACTUAL written name of their country is a couple of kanji symbols, isn't it? They might say "Nippon" out loud, but they don't write those six letters.
People raised with English and Spanish and German and such can at least recognize the Indo-European letters they all use, sound out the words, and maybe get some idea what they say, but nobody outside the Japanese-speaking community is going to see Japanese kanji as anything other than a pattern of flowy lines.
Thus, I would imagine the team wardrobe department decided to go with text that would mean something to the vast (they hope!) non-Japanese audience... and as long as they're going with an alien alphabet, why not use the the pattern of alien letters most commonly associated with their country? "J-A-P-A-N"
# Posted by: Brother at March 24, 2006 11:56 AM
