thick skin

Japanese soccer players need thick skin to deal with racism abroad: Kawashima

Japanese soccer players need to develop thicker skins to deal with the racism of the European leagues, national team goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima said Thursday.

The Standard Liege stopper was speaking after it emerged that striker Yuki Nakamura had left his Slovakian club Rimavska Sobota because of racist abuse.

“It is a pity that something happened like that, but, and this is just my opinion, Japanese players… have to be really tough in a foreign country. It is not easy,” Kawashima told Kyodo News after Japan’s 3-0 drubbing of Latvia on Wednesday night.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/japanese-soccer-players-need-thick-skin-to-deal-with-racism-abroad-kawashima

川島選手が海外で勝ち残るアドバイスを行いました。日本語の「厚顔」とか「面の皮が厚い」と同じ発想ですが、英語の場合はhave a thick skinで「神経が図太い」という意味になるんですね。ちなみに反対はもちろんthinです。（GP）