Japanese runners in the NCAA?

Yes most Japanese are quite ethnocentric and quite uncomfortable around people from other countries, (not foreigners). BTW Ichiro and Matusi are now foreigners

Lack of incentive.

Think UCLA had a Japanese pole vaulter a few years ago?

vaulter != runner

UCLA's Yoo Kim is from South Korea. I think he is an Olympian and IAAF Outdoor WC athlete.

Many Japanese find foreign cultures intriguing. Many visit, take foreign jobs, and attend classes in foreign countries. It's a matter of personal choice. China has long been the strategic economic obsession for Japanese. China is now the favorite place for Japanese tourists, and is very popular with young people.

Jun Riechl and Kent Morikawa of UCLA are japanese. Jun was born in Japan but brought here at a young age I think. Kent was born here.

Jun Reichl and Kent Morikawa are japanese and run for UCLA

Jun was born in Japan but brought to the USA. Kent was born here.

Shannon Murakami, UCLA

hmmm am i noticing something here?

something about UCLA and these japanese runners.

Who cares about dead politicians....both countries have really hot women and great food!

I seem to remember Lindsey Wilson College, which is an NAIA school somewhere in Kentucky, having a runner from Japan who did well in a few smaller meets- I think he was their #2. That's all I know of, though.

blah blah blah ... try to recruit them and we'll see ... blah blah blah.

since they live in a wealthy, educated country with the 2nd largest economy in the world, there is not as much of a need to travel for college, as stated earlier. as a result of that wealth factor, they also have a much lower incentive to learn english than folks from many other countries. I was there this year, and very few people I had to communicate with had passable english skills. even some of the highly educated japanese i have met really struggle with speaking english. (which is not an insult--compare this with the average US citizen's japanese skills)

I'm not sure about the claims that the japanese view our undergrad system as sub-par here. I know that most of the developed or developing asian countries have very high standards through high school, but have heard from Korean and Chinese friends that the work load drops way off once you get accepted to a good university. And obviously our grad programs are still very highly regarded.

zatopek wrote:

That is a total joke. The U.S. university system is totally superior to theirs. Japanese university students rarely study and academics are low on their list of priorities. 1st is their club, 2nd their part-time job, third is friends. Japanese universities are holding pens until the students are old enough and mature enough to enter the workplace.

Um? And what's America? America has the world's best schools, but outside of that are some real clunkers.

Why are there not more Japanese runners in the NCAA? We have a laudable college system academically, and it seems that there are many Japanese students studying here. Why do they not compete collegiately in our system?

Japanese like Hawaii since the culture is similar. The mainland is too violent, uncivilized, too many guns, every person wants to fight and shoot people, stupid immature and childish behaviors. Maybe if there were universities in Japanese compounds, kids would come over and run. Some want adventure, wild, foreign lands with danger like America.

Also if you have universities that are fully Japanese, with all courses in Japanese language.

I would still argue that the average American university is better than the highest Japanese university. The purpose of the Japanese university is not to educate but to socialize ( I have taught at a Japanese university for 7 years (BTW this is not an insult just a statement of belief)

engineering phd wrote:even some of the highly educated japanese i have met really struggle with speaking english. (which is not an insult--compare this with the average US citizen's japanese skills)

It's very interesting. I've been to Japan twice (Osaka, Tokyo) and I found more English spoken in Beijing and Shanghai. I think the Japanese simply don't like to speak English in the way I don't like to speak French because though I can get by in it, it's nowhere near fluent. East Asia as a whole is very poor at English because of its geographic and linguistic distance from an English-speaking country, as well as the absence of a colonial history that yields better English in places like India, Pakistan or Kenya.