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 o...