Shotgun weddings are remarkably common in Japan.
This is because “fatherless children” not registered on the father’s koseki (i.e. the national household registration system) sometimes suffer the consequences as far off in life as university admissions or job hunting. Many women would therefore rather put up with a bad marriage and divorce than harm their children’s chances or face the shame of single motherhood.
It’s therefore pretty rare for a Japanese woman to actively defend their rights as a single mother, let alone be proud of it and continue working all the while, but this is exactly what Ando Miki, one of the top figure skaters recently shocked Japanese sport fans by doing. On top of all this, she’s still drilling for the winter Olympics next year…
From Sports Navi:
Miki Ando Gave Birth Out Of Wedlock In April — “I Chose The Child’s Life Over Skating”
It was recently revealed that figure skater Ando Miki (25), a the former queen of the figure skating world championships, gave birth to a girl in April. She appeared on a VRT interview for Asahi Television’s “News Station” on July 1 and announced that “I decided that I wanted to have a kid as a single woman, gave birth without complications to a baby girl in April and became a mother.” She is not married and would not say who the father was. She said she would only retire after the Sochi Winter Olympic season.
After the winning her second World Championship in 2011, Ando broke off ties with her Nikolai Morozov as her coach. She said she was not participating in last October’s year’s Grand Prix season because she no longer had a coach and felt unprepared and resigned from her job at Toyota Motors on the 1st of January this year. Her last public appearance was last last November, however, and re-appeared at an ice show on the June 1 after almost 9 months. She showed off her jumps for the first time this year at an ice show on the 29th of June.
In her interview, she did not comment on whether she had been in a relationship with Morozov. She was already carrying the child when creating the short program for the Sochi Winder Olympics and said that “How can I put this… I knew I was pregnant, and because I didn’t want to have doubts until the end, the answer seemed to be to say goodbye [have an abortion]. Everyone was against it at first, but I then decide to choose the child’s life over skating. I came to that conclusion as an independent woman.” Then, in April, she gave birth to her first child, a little girl weighting 3,350 grams.
Furthermore, she announced that she will retire after her last season and said that “I want to live as an independent woman”.
To the very end, Ando did not reveal details about the child’s father. She only just revealed this May that she has started living with fellow pro-skater Nanri Yasuharu. Ando is also scheduled to skate along with Suzuki Akiko for two weeks form the 14th in the “2013 Tokyo Prince Ice World Show” (opening on the 12th in at the Tokyo DyDO Drinco Ice Arena).
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
n_s*o*ka22さん：
There are some idiots who praise her for “having such an impressive life”, but that’s no reason to want to get pregnant out of wedlock without revealing the father’s name.
jetさん：
Such a slut
al*udeg*lor*iaさん：
If you have an abortion, a day will come when you’ll regret it.
If you keep the child, a day will come when you will think you made the right choice.
No doubts there.
Congratulations. Good luck!
kaj*aki*9no*kim*n*さん：
Single mothers seem pretty impressive but are they really?
りょうさん：
She discovered she was pregnant right after cutting her ties with her coach Morozov. Seems like it’s Morozov.
ルート２さん：
Can’t be helped that a female athlete will be criticized. That’s the price of fame.
I feel that that guy who just watched by as she flung herself into the fire is an asshole though.
I guy like that can’t protect either his wife or his child from the start.
al*udeg*lor*iaさん：
That’s not cheerful news. It will sell more though on a news program than if it were published in a weekly magazine though.
豊田のハリマオさん：
What would I do if my own daughter did that? I hate to think.
みかんの神残太さん：
Feels like the guy did not accept to marry her. It’s pathetic that she only managed half a confession.
ＪＦＫさん：
I don’t know why this has become an inspiring story. Both as a woman and as an athlete, she’s a slut.
Comments from Twitter Japan:
さん：
Seems Miki Ando was not expecting to get pregnant. On the internet, there are a lot of people warning to “freaking use contraception if you’re a pro!” but maybe she was indeed using contraception. Contraception fails sometimes. But then they would probably say “well, as a pro, she should have taken even more care with contraception!”
2chまとめサイトのまとめ さん：
Morozov’s “splendid history” wwwwwwwwwwww
菊池雅志 さん：
A rough search gives the impression that there is hardly “anyone judging” Miki Ando but there there are loads of people saying “people who are judging her are strange!”… lol
ゲーシーさん：
It surprised me that she has a child outside of wedlock, but it surprised me even more that he baby’s name would be “Sunflower”.
田端 信太郎 さん：
Seems that there was an interview with Ando Miki in Vogue. I remember her saying in Vogue that “You become gradually more beautiful when you become a mother”.
あるくガム さん：
For real! Miki Ando’s given birth!?
MM@dance in the darkさん：
Miki Ando’s kid is like a real Mamma Mia
ふぉーまっと。さん：
Miki Ando is an unmarried mother? I don’t really know the circumstances, but good luck!
▂▅▇█▓▒░(’ω’)░▒▓█▇▅▂ さん：
You’ll only hear it here, but I’m the father of Ando Miki’s child….
