Yoshihiro Akiyama - Photo Via Sherdog
“I think a lot of people tend to focus too much on nationality, and when they try to assert or put me into either category [Korean or Japanese], I’m saddened by it,” he says. “A lot of ‘Zainichi’ Koreans (ethnic Koreans living in Japan) feel the same way — where they don’t know if they’re Korean or if they’re Japanese.”
“I often get this question from fans asking, ‘Which do you like better: Japan or Korea?’ Or if it’s a Korea versus Japan game, ‘Which side do you support?’” Akiyama says. “And it’s an extremely difficult question because it’s like asking, ‘Which parent do you like better, your mother or your father?’”
I remember reading that Akiyama actually had his name changed from Korean to something more Japanese-sounding, though I don’t actually have a citation for that. He still played the heel through most of his fights in Japan.
He has a very interesting post-national perspective, something that is rare in MMA, and in sports in general. In a time where The Ultimate Fighter can only pick up ratings by doing a country vs country, US vs UK, jingoistic schtick, this is incredibly refreshing. TUF 9 actually had the opportunity to address this in an interesting way, where one of the UK cast members, James Wilks, has expatriated to the US. He’s actually been living and training in Orange County, CA for years. They instead chose to shove him in the UK box, with the US team further alienating him for being a traitor(?).
People have been moving and bleeding through borders for way too long to make the claim that an arbitrary territorial land mass composes one’s ‘blood’. I suspect that Akiyama’s ability to transcend his borders and his ‘blood’ has a lot to do with the particularly exclusive view of ethnicity and nationality in Japan.
Read more of the piece over at Sherdog.
