Nahomi Kawasumi loves soccer.
It may seem like a no-brainer: a professional athlete who continues to be delighted by the game she plays for a living. Yet plenty of stars have more conflicted or ambivalent relationships to the sport while others sound outright jaded. In her memoir Forward, Abby Wambach describes her early revolt against family pressure to play amid fears that she’d have to choose between soccer and herself. “I spent my summer at soccer camp, all the while plotting ways to rebel,” she recalls.
On the men’s side, Italy’s Mario Balotelli has famously likened scoring points to delivering mail. “I do not celebrate my goals because it is my job,” he says. “When a postman delivers a letter, does he celebrate?”
‘Naho’, on the other hand, consistently uses the word ‘joy’ to describe her experience of playing. “I’ve been asked why I liked it so much from an early age,” says the former Japanese Women’s National Team and current Sky Blue FC star. “I think the primary reason was just the fun and joy I found in the game.”
Kawasumi is one of Japan’s most decorated players, a 2011 World Cup champion who scored two goals in the semi-final against Sweden to carry her team into the epic final match against the U.S. She earned an Olympic silver medal with the team in 2012 and was on Japan’s 2015 World Cup team that lost its rematch against the USWNT in the final.
After joining the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in 2014, she scored nine goals and five assists in her debut season with the Seattle Reign and established a single-season record for nine assists in the 2017 season. Recently she was traded to Sky Blue FC, where she’s already making her presence felt.
As an international player with experience in both the Japan and U.S., Kawasumi has perspective on the life-changing difference a World Cup victory can make, as well as the importance of consistent fan support, what it takes to create a successful women’s league and how media coverage can help or hurt the game.
Winning the World Cup was a peak experience for Kawasumi and her teammates – indeed, for the entire country which was still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck in March earlier that year. “It was an extremely joyous and momentous time for us,” she says. “I felt like we had really accomplished something. In the past, the major title had been with America but once we’d knocked them off, we realized how hard it was to get there and maintain that level of play. But just the fact that we were able to go through that process and see what it takes to win was a really beneficial and powerful experience.”
The women were hailed as heroes in Japan and for a while there was increased interest in the women’s J-League, but that eventually waned. In part, that had to do with the nature of Japanese fandom, according to Kawasumi. “If a team is doing well people will praise them but if they’re not, people aren’t really aware of them or following them,” she says. “It’s really important that we have the women’s league but if the women’s national team isn’t doing well and getting media coverage, it’s likely that the women’s league is also not getting that same coverage. One depends on the other.”
Women’s soccer has a steadier fan base in America, she believes. “Regardless of whether it’s the World Cup or the Olympics, in the U.S. the game sustains a higher level of fans. Of course, I want there to be a larger base in Japan, but we really don’t have that kind of culture.”
Both countries share one unfortunate commonality: a substantial gap between what male and female players are paid. The difference, Kawasumi says, is that in Japan it’s virtually impossible for women to make a living strictly on their soccer pay. “There’s an enormous pay gap between the men’s and the women’s game. For women, if you’re not working outside of the game, you’re not able to play,” she explains. “There are about five women who play on my club team that also play on national teams and get endorsements. INAC Kobe is the only team in the league where you might get by without having to work.”
The result is that players have no time for any kind of outside life because working takes up every hour not spent practicing. “There’s just no money,” she says. “It’s really important for us to have a pro league so the women aren’t working and can just focus on soccer. I admire the NWSL in that you can get a salary. It’s not high but it’s accepted. I don’t know if there are enough women in Japan who find it unacceptable enough to really motivate change and push to get a pro league.”
Despite the national team’s status, increased media coverage doesn’t always help their cause, fueling perceptions of the team that have nothing to do with soccer. “In Japan, you’ll often see articles about how someone is cute or things that don’t really reflect on the game or their performance as professionals,” Kawasumi contends. “As long as people continue to interview at that low level, the game won’t grow. It’s hard to maintain interest when we’re talking about those kinds of personal qualities instead of the game.”
Having representation at the highest levels of FIFA is also important to growing the women’s game, she contends. Ideally, the future she envisions includes a huge fan base, wide media coverage and equitable pay. “I want it to be an everyday occurrence that there’s a high level of play across all countries,” she says, “and people who support a thriving women’s game.”
In the meantime, she continues to enjoy herself. As incredible as the World Cup victory was, she also brings up the day she joined the Seattle Reign and began playing in the NWSL as one of the most inspirational of her career. “There’s something every day,” she says. “When I first started playing in elementary school, it was really fun but the more I do it, the more fun it becomes. I believe that in the entirety of my career, this is the most fun I’ve ever had.”