News confirmed: Yomiuri Giants player gets let off scot free
You may have read my article earlier this week about Mona Yamamoto being caught at a love hotel with Yomiuri Giants player Tomohiro Nioka. I commented in that story that a lot of the emphasis seems to have been placed on Yamamoto and very little seems to have been said about Nioka. But it seems that Nioka was the instigator in what went on when they met and what they did afterwards, as this report in Japan Today shows:
Mona takes the fall, while Nioka gets off
Hardly a day has gone by over the last week that the tabloid media hasn’t put the boot into Mona Yamamoto, 32, after she was forced to quit her job as a news program anchor due to a scandal surrounding her visit to a love hotel with a married Yomiuri Giants baseball player. Since Yamamoto had to leave another news program in October, 2006 in similar circumstances, the media have been calling her all sorts of names.
But those who were at the party on the night of the latest scandal say that baseball player Tomohiro Nioka, 32, was hitting on Yamamoto much more eagerly than she was hitting on him. Yet he barely received a slap on the wrist.
“As Nioka got drunk, he started to approach a group of girls who were drinking together. But these girls ignored him, so he started to hit on Yamamoto,” said one of Nioka’s friends who was at the party. “He talked to her, and was whispering in her ear. The distance between them got closer.”
After the party, Nioka left with Yamamoto and looked as if he was pushing her into a taxi around 4:30 a.m. “While he was drunk, he tried to kiss me,” Yamamoto said in an official statement to media. “Mr Nioka asked me to go to another bar on the street, but I refused that offer. Because I didn’t want to make it a big deal in public, I reluctantly went to a love hotel nearby to talk with him until he could sober up. We just had a drink there but didn’t do anything more.”
Nioka married a freelance announcer in 2005, and has a son who was born in June, 2007. He is currently president of the Players Union. Nioka’s wife told Shukan Post: “I heard everything from my husband and I am sorry that he has caused so much trouble for many people.”
One Yomiuri Giants fans says, “He hasnft been in good form these days. If Mona is forced to suspend all activities, Nioka should do the same.”
However, a spokesperson for the Yomiuri Giants says, “His behavior was very senseless. We apologize to our fans. He is sorry for his own actions now. Since he is one of our key players, we decided to let him off with just a verbal warning this time.” (Translated by Taro Fujimoto)
The most startling quote in this article comes from the Yomiuri Giants spokesman, and let me repeat it for emphasis: “He is sorry for his own actions now. Since he is one of our key players, we decided to let him off with just a verbal warning this time”. This is just unbelievable. Are they stating that if he wasn’t an important player in the team then he would be punished more severely? Surely that creates a wonderful precedent for successful players to be able to do what they want. Could be a nice incentive for fringe players in the team. “Work hard and if you become a 1st team regular you can get off with any indiscretions because we need you!”.
Nioka’s even got his wife apologizing to the media, saying, “I heard everything from my husband and I am sorry that he has caused so much trouble for many people”. I think everyone will agree that his wife doesn’t appear to have anything to apologise for. But Nioka has failed to make any comment or statement to the media, and I’m sure that will stay that way. If he does, I am sure that he will say what happened was “regrettable”. This seems to be a very Japanese way of deflecting blame while appearing to be doing something sincere. Saying that something is regrettable is a far cry from accepting blame & responsibility, and apologizing for it, but it’s a favoured phrase for politicians here.
Once again, Yamamoto could have still rejected Nioka’s advances initially and it is unlikely any of this had happened, but the responsibility of it has to be shared between the 2. I am sure in a day or 2 nobody will remember Nioka’s name in all of this, but Yamamoto’s name will be put through the cleaners (once again) by Japan’s tabloids.
Will just finish this report with something I noticed from a news story/press release here in Japan.
The story was promoting Kyoko Fukuda’s new role as an English teacher in a new Japanese TV drama, disturbingly entitled “We can’t teach this at school!”. Her character is said to interact with a number of schoolboys who attend a girls’ high school (yup, I’m not too sure about that one either) and gives advice on adolescent problems. gI was very surprised when I read the script because we have a lot of sexually radical scenes in the drama. The drama is also about human relationships, so I hope parents and teachers will enjoy it” said Fukuda about the drama. That’s all well and good, but just glance at the picture distributed with the press release on the right. Yes, in the poster advertising this new school drama you can see 5 naked boys/men running towards the camera. Looks like it’s going to be another hard-hitting show!
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Hi Dave!
I’m guessing you didn’t find my email!
The Fukada Kyoko dorama is bound to be another silly vehicle for her to act cutesy in. But she’s pretty so I guess no one is complaining.
The double standards as illustrated by your news report are shocking. The most disturbing bit is where he actually managed to convince his wife to apologise on his behalf!!