Chinese fans slam EPL club Brighton over Kaoru Mitoma’s Imperial Japan soldier post
English Premier League side apologises after social media post showing Japanese winger holding image of WWII soldier while posing with fan
Chinese football fans have condemned club side Brighton & Hove Albion and the Premier League side’s Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma after a social media post showed him smiling and holding an image of the last Japanese soldier to surrender in World War II.
Millions of Chinese were killed during the brutal fight against Imperial Japanese forces, whose record of massacre, rape and looting still strains relations between Beijing and Tokyo.
Brighton’s academy apologised on Saturday after the post – which showed Mitoma posing with a young player and a mocked-up football card featuring Imperial Army officer Hiroo Onoda – caused an outcry.
At noon on Monday, the topic “Premier League team apologises to Chinese fans” was the top-trending item on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and had been viewed more than 15 million times.
“There are actually Premier League teams that support fascists,” read the top-liked comment under a post by state-backed tabloid The Global Times.
Others called for Brighton to terminate Japanese international Mitoma’s contract.
