During the second game of the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) qualifiers between Korea and Japan on the 17th, a fairness controversy erupted as the Tokyo Dome side imposed a particularly strict standard on Korean fans.
At the time, Tokyo Dome officials reportedly prevented Korean-style standing cheers for safety reasons, but did not impose any restrictions on Japanese fans' standing cheers. In particular, some Japanese fans were spotted carrying incense sticks, but there are no reports of any sanctions against them.
Allegations of discrimination by the Tokyo Dome between Korean and Japanese fans surfaced on the 17th when a post by a social media user who visited the stadium for the Japan-Korea game went viral.
According to the social networking service X (formerly Twitter), the user said, "Tokyo Dome is weird." On the 20th, he said, "Japanese fans can go anywhere in the outfield.
He said, "Japanese people stand up and cheer during their offense, whether in the outfield or anywhere else. However, when it was time for our offense (we stood up and cheered), the shikyu (security guards) rushed over and told us to sit down," he wrote.
According to Mr. A, the Tokyo Dome officials were tolerant of Japanese fans cheering, but did not allow Korean fans to do the same.
Local media in Japan have also reacted to the story as unjustified. "An unexpected disturbance has arisen due to cultural differences between the countries," said Japanese online media outlet Newspier, "The cheering styles of Korea and Taiwan are different from Japan's, and this was not recognized (at the Tokyo Dome)." One baseball fan told the outlet. 카지노사이트777
One baseball fan told the media, "When I bought my ticket, I chose a cheering seat. "In Korea, it's customary to stand up in the infield to cheer when our team attacks, so I thought I could do it as usual (during the game)," he said.
The media also commented on the game, saying, "There needs to be an explanation as to why the rules were changed for this game. Korean spectators are confused," and pointed out that "it would have been good if they were reminded not to stand up and cheer since the Australia game."
"International competitions are an opportunity for fans to interact with each other, not only against foreign teams, but also with each other. It's unfortunate that this is ruined by a lack of rules," he said.
Some of the Japanese fans who cheered at the stadium were seen with smiles on their faces as they unfolded the Japanese flag. They took commemorative photos with the flags, showing that their behavior was unimportant.
In response to the incident, Seo Kyung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said he sent a protest email to the APBC through his social media account on the 19th. In the protest email, Professor Seo said, "The U.S. flag is a flag that Japan used to invade Asian countries in the past. It symbolizes militarism and imperialism." "Cheering for the flag is a reminder of the horrors of war for Asians and a symbol of fascism," she said. Noting that the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) also immediately banned the Japanese supporters for chanting at the World Cup in Qatar, the APBC also demanded that strong measures be taken to stop chanting and prevent such behavior from being repeated.
Meanwhile, the APBC is a baseball tournament that brings together countries in the Asian region, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. It consists of eight games, with four games per team. Each team plays one game each in the preliminary round, and the first and second place teams play in the final. This is followed by the '3rd place deciding game' between the 3rd and 4th place teams.