By May Masangkay,
Sometimes athletes with dual nationalities fail to reap the full benefits of either allegiance, Filipino-Japanese golf sensation Yuka Saso makes the most of both.
Fans, family and friends from her two home countries will be glued to the TV when the 20-year-old plays in her first Olympic tournament over four days from Wednesday, rooting for her as one of their own, albeit from afar.
Saso, born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother, is representing her maternal homeland but it may not always be that way.
She says she is still undecided about what nationality she will eventually choose, the law in Japan ostensibly requiring people with dual citizenship to choose one by the age of 22.
In reality, though, the Japanese government does not force dual citizens to make a choice, effectively allowing many to maintain their dual nationalities.
Even so, Saso said in a recent interview with Kyodo News that having to choose a nationality, should she decide to do so, would be very difficult given that she is equally attached.
"Basically, I'm both," said Saso, who is the only holder of both a Japanese and a Philippine passport in her family and speaks Tagalog, Japanese and English.
In a reflection of that bifurcated identity, her fans are also equally split.
Supporters in both the Philippines and Japan shared a moment of joy when Saso equaled 2008 winner Park In Bee of South Korea as the youngest winner of the U.S. Women's Open two months ago, beating Japan's Nasa Hataoka in a playoff.
Amazingly, both Saso and Park were exactly 19 years, 11 months, 17 days old when they won the U.S. Open some 13 years apart.
Her win was big news in both countries.
Boxing legend and high-profile Filipino politician Manny Pacquiao joined a chorus on social media praising Saso, tweeting, "You have shown to the world the Filipino greatness as the world's youngest champion in the prestigious 2021 US Women's Open."
The Philippine Post Office has said it plans to feature her on stamps, a way it honors living Filipinos who have inspired the Southeast Asian nation.
In Japan, the government's top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, also offered his congratulations on Saso's big U.S. win, saying the playoff holes were "a fierce battle" but that Saso's perseverance was the difference.
The young woman can prove a rallying point for Filipinos, Japanese, Filipino-Japanese and others among the Philippines' widespread diaspora, Johnny Dee, president of the Pinoy Golfers Association Japan, believes.
"Young generations of Japanese-Filipino golfers, Filipino-American golfers and Filipino golfers alike are surely inspired" by her achievements, said Dee, a Yokohama resident.
Following her U.S. Women's Open win, Tatsuo Yamanaka, who oversees the golf team at Yoyogi High School in Tokyo, Saso's alma mater, told Kyodo News while he "knew her power and mental fortitude would serve her well on the global stage," he did not imagine "she would reach such great heights so soon."
And they are heights that give her a platform to shed light on some of the issues around identity in Japan and the Philippines, including the bullying she experienced in both places.
"If (bullies) call me Japanese, I didn't really feel bad because that was true. And if I'm here in Japan, they say I'm from the Philippines, I didn't feel bad too because that was true."
She is from each country and neither, but can make a difference in both.
