A Japanese badminton star who was stripped of his right to attend the Rio Olympics could return to work in the spring, prompting Lee Davy to question the crazy world of rules and regulations.
I want to go to Japan, and I don’t. I’ll get lost, and everyone will bow when I ask for directions. They kill dolphins like we kill trout. There is a strange fascination with child pornography. And there is something odd about visiting a country that sits on top of so much seismic activity they call the surrounding area the ring of fire.
I nearly forgot.
It’s illegal to gamble inside a casino in Japan.
If you don’t believe me ask Kento Momota.
The Badminton Star Who Loves Gambling
Kenton Momota is a 22-year old badminton player from Japan who is currently serving an indefinite ban after he was found gambling in illegal casinos (all casinos are illegal in Japan).
The Nippon Badminton Association (NBA) banned Momota – who was reported to have visited casinos six times between Oct 2014 & Jan 2015 losing $4,600 – just before the 2016 Rio Olympics. Fellow badminton player Kenichi Tago was also banned, but I assume he is not a big deal because nobody is writing about the poor man.
Momota told the press that he first fell in love with gambling when he visited a casino in a country where lawmakers are sensible, and gambling is legal.
“The thrill of it gradually overtook my senses.” Said Momota.
Momota was the first player from Japan to win a World Championship medal when he took bronze in Jakarta last year. He plays his club badminton for NTT East.
A Return Could be on The Cards
So what does ‘indefinite’ mean?
According to Kyodo News, officials could lift the ban as early as May 2017. NBA executive director, Kinji Zeniya, told the press that Momota had been working ‘diligently,’ ‘training with a great attitude,’ and applying himself in the charitable sector.
If the former world number two does return in May, he will be able to compete at the Japanese National Championships at the end of 2017 and perhaps make the Japanese National Team.
But this all does seem a little harsh.
Professional footballer Joey Barton breaks the Scottish Football Association’s (SFA) gambling laws and receives a one-match ban. Momota gets pummeled in front of the press like a sacrificial dolphin and banned for ‘God knows when.’
And as our very own Jasmine Solana points out in this article. Japan are on the verge of legalising casinos. What a smack in the face. The lads loses his Olympics place, and they were always going to legalise casinos.
Looking on the bright side, the Stoics teach us to think about the worse that can happen. It’s a process to instil gratitude. In Momota’s case, an indefinite ban is far more lenient than a three-year jail sentence.
Yes, in Japan, you can be jailed for up to three years for taking your hard earned cash and deciding to spend it playing a game that you enjoy without causing harm to anyone else. The same country that thought it was acceptable to produce child pornography until 1999 and only decided to ban the buying, selling, and possession of such filth two years ago.
Nah, I think I will give Japan a miss.
