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Don Wakamatsu, formerly the bench coach for the Oakland A's, was formally named as the new manager of the Seattle Mariners. Wakamatsu is the first Asian-American to be named as a manager.
This is not the irrelevant fact that I allude to in my headline.
Wakamatsu, who was born in Hood River, Ore., says he knows only a little Japanese — always a consideration in Seattle, where All-Star Ichiro Suzuki is the franchise cornerstone — though it has improved recently with the A’s and Rangers.
So did Lou Piniella, Mike Hargrove, John McLaren, and Jim Riggleman all take intensive Japanese language immersion classes? Did they all sit through extensive interviews with the Japanese media that follows Ichiro and give the interviews in Japanese?
Did the writer realize that a Japanese-American has about as much in common culturally with someone from Japan as I do with Torsten Frings?
Now, if the Mariners had gone and hired Seibu Lions manager Hisanobu Watanabe (his team won the Japan Series), then it would be a little different.
Sports Ticker handles the issue more sensibly in its article:
Wakamatsu, 45, is the first Asian-American skipper in major league history and will be managing in a city with a large Asian population.
According to the last linked article, the favorite candidate of the fans was actually Joey Cora.
Does having an Asian born parent qualify you?
How about a grandparent plus an Asian sounding name?
If you had grandparents from 4 different continents what would they call you?
I don't mean to sound sarcastic but I long for the day when the labels are gone.
I understand the issue about going away with labels but this is fairly recent occurence in modern American society. And it is certainly not universally accepted even within those communities.
And to answer 2 , while there is not litmus test as far as qualifying for said label, generally it is accepted that if someone in your family history is from said Asian origin, then you could be considered Asian-American.
Their mom is fourth generation American from Hawaii of 96.875 % asian descent.
My kids said they had not considered themselves as Asian-American until I mentioned Wakamatsu was called that.
We usually just call them Poi Dogs the Hawaiian pidgen term for Mutt.
If he can get the M's to .500 I will call Wakamatsu anything he wants.
5 I stand corrected though the whole Filipino/Asian label thing is a much discussed topic in those circles.
8 Wa-katonk, be-donka-donk? (Sorry....)
I am "hapa" myself; my mom was born in mainland China, but having lived in L.A. my whole life and speaking no Chinese, I am culturally a full-blown westerner.
I love Torsten Frings. What a fit he would be for Arsenal. He's just the type of player we need.
Do you follow/root for any teams in the Bundesliga, Bob?
I have some very distant relatives who are big fans of Borussia Dortmund.
But I'm not a big Budesliga fan.
But I've never been one to "get" labels, I'm me, isn't that enough? I had a row with a "counselor" in high school who told me I should use my mom's maiden name so I would sound more "Hispanic" in my college applications. My response was, "what, 3.7 GPA, varsity letter in two sports, 1260 on my SATs, and all the other stuff isn't enough to get me in?"
But I do agree with Bob about the irrelevant fact of the day.
I love the American standardized testing system. Primarily because it made me look smart!
I don't believe there's been an Asian-American coach in the NHL.
Or the MLS.
There has been at least one Asian-American player in the NHL and at least one Korean and one Japanese. All of them have played for the Kings at one point.
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