dream again

watching dream again, starring takashi sorimachi and ai katou, i can only come to the following conclusion: ai katou is really very stylish.

anyway one of the lines which struck me most was:
it was through my own effort that i stood in the Giants' batter's box. i won't let you call that 'fate'
- ogi shunsuke/asahina takaya (sorimachi)

it's good to be able to share a dream with others, to find others of the like mind, because some dreams are too heavy to be carried on one's shoulders alone.

but did you even swing the bat?

**
what does it mean to be German, Japanese, Singaporean, American, Croatian, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Romanian or whatever nationality that comes to your mind right now?

with the world as it is, something which has been happening all along anyway, lines are increasingly become blurred. names that don't sound typical of that country. faces that don't look typical of that country.

you wonder if nationality will become an archaic concept.

anyway, i agree with arsene wenger on the following: the passport does not matter; if you are good enough, you are old enough.

but i do feel there is a fundamental difference between A and B.

where one is a natural development, the other is something that is forced upon, that is carried out for one sole purpose, which should on one hand be lauded for its ambition, but on the other frowned upon, because maybe that isn't everything. it becomes such that you can't say whether it is right or wrong.

if i am not able to accept it, will i be accused of being outdated in my thinking, of being not liberal enough?

and it may seem especially contradictory to the two beliefs i stated above.

and in a way, clubs (and other organisations) are doing it. but somehow, that is different, because they are not nations, and they don't proclaim to be something they aren't, or at least not yet.

so i guess the crux of the issue lies in that very concept of nationhood.

i appreciate the borderless world, for one the convenience that comes with it. and i think kenichi ohmae would be right- the world will move towards one in which regions will take precedence over whole nation states as functional units.

but you know, there is something about international football that club football can't quite replicate.

so maybe we should keep some things separate-go on, celebrate the differences in club football, don't put any restrictions. but keep club football as club football.