Four players from the Japanese national basketball team competing in the Asian Games were immediately dismissed from the team on Sunday and sent home in disgrace after Japanese sports officials said they had been caught in one of Jakarta’s red light districts going to a hotel with prostitutes.
The disgraced quartet’s humiliation did not end with their return to Japan, however, as soon after the four had arrived in Tokyo on Monday afternoon they were taken to a press conference where they apologized for their actions in front of the press.
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“To those who are associated with the Japan Basketball Association, (my B. League club) Kyoto Hannaryz, all those who are on the Japanese delegation for the Asian Games, and my teammates and staff, I deeply regret our rash act,” Yuya Nagayoshi, one of the four players, said at the press conference as quoted by the Japan Times.
Accompanied by Japanese Basketball Association (JBA) head Yuko Mitsuya and technical chairman Tomoya Higashino, all four players performed a deep 20-second long bow to show their contrition for the scandal.
One question that came up during the presser was why the players had still been wearing their national team jerseys when they were spotted with the women. Nagayoshi said that it was due to a lack of awareness about being a representative of his country while abroad.
JBA chairperson Mitsuya said that she felt responsible for the incident because the JBA did not send anybody to supervise the team in Jakarta. She said an independent committee of lawyers would determine what further sanctions the players would face.
Japan’s chef de mission, Yasuhiro Yamashita, told reporters during the press conference in Jakarta on Sunday that he felt a sense of shame over the incident.
“We deeply apologize and intend to give the athletes thorough guidance from now on.”
According to Yamashita, the basketball players had dinner after leaving the Asian Games athlete’s village and are believed to have been solicited by touts in a South Jakarta red light district to go to a hotel with the women.
Japanese swimmer Naoya Tomita was expelled from the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, four years ago after being caught on video stealing a journalist’s camera.
With reporting by AFP
