Yawara Mama
11/13/2007 @ 4:00 am
Japan’s favorite female butt kicker and Fukuoka native Ryoko “Tawara-chan” Tani (née Tamura), has been awarded a “Gold Medal of Honor for Child Rearing” from the Fukuoka prefectural government.
This new award is on top of the Fukuoka Prefecture Medal of Honor and Fukuoka Prefecture Sports Medal of Honor that Tani had been awarded to date for taking top honors in her division at judo world championships in Rio de Janeiro in September, her first world championships after giving birth to a child in 2005.
I’d be willing to bet that these medals were accompanied by cash awards, and I’d also be willing to bet that in order to perform at the level required to take a world championship Tani spent very little time with her newborn.
This woman is a true champion & I have the upmost repect for her & what she has done, so if cash awards came her way so be it she earnt every yen & more.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:05 amI find it hilarious that there are medals of honor for so many things in her prefecture. Is this the same across Japan? Or are they making up awards for a local sports hero.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:42 amMaybe she got the award because she has such a great career but still had a kid? If you have some evidence she left it with a nanny 24/7 or something, ok, but I wouldn’t criticise her/the award just because she didn’t quit and stayed at home. I think you’re being a tad sexist/spiteful.
Plus you’re forgetting it helps raise the profile of the campaign (and certainly the girls I know like her).
November 13th, 2007 at 6:42 amafter all the hard training & pain that goes into the sport of judo (been there & done that myself)if anyone wants to give her an award so be it and she would be worth every yen. As for you esotericlarity I find you hilarious to even comment on such a remarkable athlete that has done more than you would every do in your lifetime.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:37 ami find it even more jocular that you’re taking this so seriously robin, its really not even an insult towards her abilities as a judo master (something you apparently live vicariously through), its just a question of why she needs to be honored in so many ways and for reasons completely unrelated to her athletic ability. seriously, a medal of honor for child rearing? is her kid a cancer researcher, a lawyer, and the prime minister of japan? i just don’t get it. why not recognize her for actual accomplishments, or let her record speak for itself? why honor her for doing what most women have done at some point in their lives since the beginning of the human species? it just sounds like a way for local politicians to promote their prefecture as connected to an athlete.
by the way two pieces of advice from a person who has experience in both trolling and feeding the trolls (as im doing now). quit going around pronouncing to the world that you’re a judo champion, a genius, have a 10 inch dick, etc. you are an anonymous poster. for all any of us know you or i could be a creepy guy wacking of to ryoko that hasn’t left their bedroom in two years. no one takes you or i more seriously for quoting our (possibly made up) bona fides. just make your point and let it stand. secondly, quit with the emotocons. they dont scare me. they’re just lame.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:28 amjust toss the other one & by the way I am a judo champion.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:43 amI’ve got a better fadeaway jumper than Michael Jordan.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:29 amSay, Raj, you’ve been around long enough to know that trotting out the “-ist” labels does not work very well here.
If the prefecture wants to shower Tani with money, that is up to them. But this particular award is idoitic. It is an insult to the many people who do quite well raising their children with much less (Tani is married to a professional baseball player).
November 13th, 2007 at 12:28 pmThis “award” has little or nothing to do with Yawara-chan; it’s simply about votes. Whether she’s the best or worst of Fukuoka moms is neither here nor there, but I would rather she and other top athletes refused to be co-opted (even for good causes) by politicians out to keep themselves firmly attached to the public teat.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:51 pmwhat guessing!! that robin is male.
what a ruse! - darling.
rem.
November 13th, 2007 at 4:03 pmEddy
“Say, Raj, you’ve been around long enough to know that trotting out the “-ist” labels does not work very well here.”
Obviously they do, otherwise you wouldn’t have commented.
“If the prefecture wants to shower Tani with money, that is up to them.”
How much money is “showering”? I didn’t see anything in the report you linked to that mentioned a cash figure.
“It is an insult to the many people who do quite well raising their children with much less”
If you’re talking about the ‘medal’, why should they care if a well-known working mother is praised? If you’re talking about money then please supply more information.
November 14th, 2007 at 3:43 amI guess the “Mom of the Year” mug is passe.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:15 pm