Fil-Japanese 3×3 player Tatsuhito Noro speaks to the media. Photo by Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net
BOCAUE, Bulacan—When Tatsuhito Noro made his trip to the Philippines for the Fiba 3×3 World Cup he knew he wasn’t just going to play for his home country of Japan.
Noro had another agenda apart from playing basketball. He was also going to see his Filipino mother Alma Miwa.
“The first time I found out that I was going to the World Cup in the Philippines, and being half Filpino, I knew that I made my biggest goal to make it here and be on the national team,” said Noto with the help of a translator Sunday at Philippine Arena.
Noro went scoreless in Japan’s 20-16 loss to Poland, but the joy of having his mother watch him for the first time overwhelmed any setback.
“I made the team at the last moment, and I’m proud to play in front of my mother and grandmother.”
And as for Miwa, watching her son play in the Philippines was enough for her to forget about the pain she’s going through.
Miwa, who’s divorced to Noto’s father, last saw Noto in Nagoya, Japan when she suffered a stroke and had an operation to remove a tumor in her head in December 2017.
“I’m so happy when he told me that he was going here in the Philippines to play and he had his friends take me to the venue,” said the sobbing 49-year-old Miwa, who now lives in Pampanga with her mother Cely Miranda, in Filipino.
“I’m happy that I was able to watch him play and even my mother was happy to see her grandson,” added Miwa.
Noto was thankful that the people around him were supportive of his mother.
“I’m very appreciative that the people support me and my mother,” said the 29-year-old Noro.