Chinese Volleyball Star's Name Sparks Social Media Trend and Debate in Japan

In the women's volleyball final of the Asian Games, the Japanese national team suffered a straight-set defeat to China, taking home the silver medal. However, the match sparked an unexpected trend on social media regarding a specific term: "Gomuketsu," a phonetic Japanese reading of the name of China's young and talented attacker, Wu Mengjie.

During the match, Wu troubled the Japanese team by racking up points with her overwhelming height and power. In the Japanese television broadcast, commentators referred to her by reading her Chinese characters using the Japanese On-yomi (Chinese-derived) reading, pronouncing it as "Go Muketsu." As her name was repeatedly called out amid the excitement of the game, the striking impact of her combined surname and given name caught the attention of viewers. On X (formerly Twitter), posts praising her phenomenal performance flooded the platform, with comments such as "Gomuketsu is too strong" and "It was an overwhelming onslaught."

At the same time, due to the unique phonetic sound, posts amused by the resonance of the name quickly spread, causing the term to skyrocket to the top of the trending topics. In contrast, a flurry of criticisms and expressions of discomfort also emerged from viewers, arguing that "it is disrespectful to make light of a person's name" and that commentators "should clearly separate it as 'Go-Muketsu.'"

Furthermore, the discussion spilled over into debates regarding the naming conventions for foreign athletes in Japanese sports broadcasts. A fair number of voices questioned the broadcasters' choice of names in international competitions, suggesting alternatives such as "She should be called 'Wu Mengjie,' which is closer to the local pronunciation rather than the On-yomi of kanji," and "It is about time to standardize names to Pinyin readings."

While China's young ace left a powerful impression by standing in Japan's way with fierce spikes, the incident also brought to light ongoing challenges in how athlete names are handled in international sports reporting.

The context

In Japanese media, foreign athletes from countries that use kanji (such as China) have traditionally been referred to using the Japanese On-yomi (reading based on historical Chinese pronunciations adapted into Japanese). While this practice has historical roots, it often creates a gap between how athletes are known globally and how they are introduced to Japanese audiences. Furthermore, when these kanji-based readings accidentally coincide with comical or colloquial Japanese words—as seen with Wu Mengjie's name sounding similar to a humorous Japanese phrase—it highlights the cultural and linguistic challenges of sports broadcasting, prompting discussions on whether Japanese media should transition to using native or localized phonetic pronunciations (like Pinyin) for all international athletes.