Nobunari Oda resigns as coach from Kansai University due to "moral harassment"

[yuzuangel]

 

[yuzuangel]

 

[moonkat]

On 10/3/2019 at 11:59 AM, Umebachi said:

I suspect it's more than just one person that contributed to the moral harassment situation   In the past year, there has been a large number of exposes in Japan of other major university sports clubs exercising power harrassment over coaches and athletes.  There is an institutional culture in Japan that has allowed institutions to behave in a dictatorial fashion with little or no transparency and no avenue for complaints or whistleblowing.  In such a context, the whole institution is complicit in undermining the voice one of one in order to protect/favor another.  

 

In the past, this culture was considered normal and condoned by the public.  But today the Japanese public is showing strong aversion to these practices and the media is slowly becoming more willing to investigate into these allegations.  Still quite timid though, and there may be some reluctance to confront major power houses like Kandai (short for Kansai Daigaku).  

 

BTW, it must really irk Kandai leadership that they have not been able to produce olympic champions despite their powerful position.   

 

Maybe this culture is why they haven't produced Olympic Champions. If Nobu were to come in, change the culture, and produce better results right in their rink, it would a disaster for this "culture".  

 

[saltycandy]

5 hours ago, moonkat said:

Maybe this culture is why they haven't produced Olympic Champions. If Nobu were to come in, change the culture, and produce better results right in their rink, it would a disaster for this "culture".  

 

 

I'm on Nobu's side here, but with all due respect Rika has more potential to achieve comparable results to Dai's (Kandai's most successful skater to date and the one who gave the club its strong foothold through his achievements) than any of Nobu's current students. That's not to say Nobu couldn't potentially coach a skater to greater heights in the future too, but I doubt that balancing studies and practice (as suggested by Nobu) would be the key to greater competitive success. It would give athletes better prospects for their future for sure though.

Besides Dai was coached by Nagamitsu, not Hamada, and according to the referenced article above Nobu accused no one besides Hamada of engaging in the harassment (and maybe in questionable coaching practices?) Dai had a strong bond with Nagamitsu and said many times that she is a very kind person (among others she coaches Keiji, Moa and Sena atm). So right now this doesn't seem to be an issue with the coaching or culture at the KFSC per se but one that's specifically connected to Hamada and possibly some higher ups of the club, who might be shielding her, because her methods are seemingly proving to lead to desirable results.

Anyway, that's a lot of speculation. I believe the issue at hand is very delicate and should be handled extremely carefully. Let's wait for a complete translation before jumping to any conclusions.

 

 

Edit:

 

Clarification of Nobu's side of the story

[Salior]

On 10/2/2019 at 5:38 PM, LadyLou said:

@ralucutzagy I think it's.... the wrong thread

 

anyway another update on Nobu&Kandai

and this

which changes? What did Nobu want? It looks like Nobu didn't like something in coaching methods (possibly Hamada's, who, other than Satoko, Rika and Yuna, has promising jr like Mana and Azusa and coaches a rather large group of very young skaters) and he wanted to change some things, but what things?

It is very concerning to me. I don't think a disagreement in opinion could be perceived as prolonged psycological harassment...

Hamada afaik has some methods in common with Eteri, like insisting on repetitions (iirc Satoko or Rika talked about this, and I remember  worrying about stress injuries), but idk what else she does. I believe she is "demanding", but thus far which other info we have?

 

(Nobu is a retired skater, should we move to the other thread? but what happened is likely also related to training environment of currently competing skaters...)

 

ETA: add this

so only confirmed(is it? is that tabloid reliable? I have no idea) thing is that there was a disagreement with Hamada, but we still don't know if Hamada was the harasser or there was someone else who brought the disagreement further...

(ngl, for my peace of mind I hope Hamada isn't the "bad guy" here, but if she is, I want to know)

 

 

EDIT again

tbh this sounds rather..."tame" compared to other things I am thinking about

still, was the harassment related to this? Disagreement is one thing, negatively pressuring someone is another...

 

not sure if this has been posted, but this thread translated some missing details that you're looking for 

 

 

[EisElle]

5 hours ago, Salior said:

 

not sure if this has been posted, but this thread translated some missing details that you're looking for 

 

 

yeah I saw that  Very, very disappointed in Hamada, even more after she also made those remarks about Nobu not being really that much at the rink.... Nobu is now insisting on how seriously he took his duties both as director and coach....

and the club clearly handled the whole thing badly

[yuzuangel]

 

[EisElle]

Well let's wait for Nov 18th, eager to have more info from direct source instead of relying on 'insiders' spilling the beans to a tabloid

For sure, if everything really started because Nobu merely wanted to make figure skaters follow the same rules other athletes in the same uni followed, I don't see how could anyone even get mad at him... and totally incomprehensible how Kandai didn't stand by Nobu

(A scenario that really really  worries me, though, is one where Hamada might have been worse than just "strict" with skaters, as a tabloid suggested)

[sallycinnamon]

It is official now that the harasser was Hamada. I hope Oda will get the justice that he deserves. He has a lot of courage.

 

 

[mercedes]

I wonder how many before Nobu had to go through that and couldn't do a thing...Nobu is very brave,again I hope he gets justice!

[TallyT]

Totally on Nobu's side....

[Guest turquoiseblue]

Kudos to Nobu!  I have so much respect and love for him   

[Guest turquoiseblue]

Pro figure skater Nobunari Oda goes to court alleging harassment by Kansai Univ. coach

 

Quote

In his lawsuit filed with the Osaka District Court on Nov. 18, Oda, 32, is demanding 11 million yen in damages from 60-year-old coach Mie Hamada. He says he wants to "raise questions about abuses in the figure skating world," and that he will "reveal the truth in court."

 

According to his lawsuit and other sources, Oda became manager of the skating club at Kansai University -- his alma mater -- in the Osaka Prefecture city of Suita in western Japan in April 2017. However, he clashed with coach Hamada, saying in his lawsuit that she ignored him and angrily told him "your way of thinking is wrong."

 

Oda says the harassment escalated, and that he became unwell, becoming unable to participate in public exhibitions. He was hospitalized with stress between March and April this year, and left the club in September after becoming unable to instruct members.

 

In July, before Oda left the club, he had complained to the university of "moral harassment." When approached for comment in the past, the university said that it had set up an investigation team and questioned all coaches, but had not confirmed any harassment or other such behavior.

 

[WinForPooh]

Nobu is extremely brave to do this and I hope he gets all of the truth out in the open and gets the compensation he should get.

[EisElle]

Waiting for a more comprehensive translation of the whole press con (since thus far I have seen only parts and google translate might not be the most reliable source)...

Shameful that Kandai told Nobu they would ask for resignment of both harasser and harassed if harassed dared speaking out. Really says a lot about silence culture and placing more importance on "good image" rather than having a truly peaceful environment (also says a lot about institutions being reluctant to take a stand when the harasser is high profile and brings results)

Nobu was brave and chose maybe the harder path for himself, instead of quietly letting go (and sometimes it happens that one just wants something to end as fast as possible). Just looking at how he looks in the press-con makes me angry. 

As for Hamada, I suppose it's another good reminder for me that kind-looking people can be as bad as anyone. Shouldn't Kandai now make her to resign though? They told Nobu so, and now it is public...

Hopefully Yamato Tamura is, instead, the good person he looks to be, and can keep coaching the skaters. It's probably too much to hope skaters themselves won't be affected by all of this, but I hope they'll be protected as much as possible