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TOKYO (AP) – Yoshiro Mori’s long saga seems to be nearing an end.
Japan’s Kyodo news agency and others reported on Thursday – citing anonymous sources – that Yoshiro Mori would step down as chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee on Friday.
The move follows his sexist comments about women over a week ago and a rare public debate in Japan on gender equality,
A decision is expected to be announced at the meeting of the organizing committee’s executive board on Friday. The Tokyo 2020 executive board is predominantly male, as is day-to-day leadership.
Mori, 83, at a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee over a week ago, essentially said that women “talk too much” and are driven by “a strong sense of rivalry.” Mori, a former prime minister, reluctantly apologized days later after his views were published, but refused to resign.
It’s more than just a problem for the postponed Olympics, which made the risky choice of trying to open on July 23 amid a pandemic with 11,000 athletes – and later, 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
More than 80% of the Japanese public in recent polls believe the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s remarks sparked outrage from many quarters and highlighted how far behind other prosperous countries in advancing women in politics or on boards. Japan is 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s ranking on gender equality.
Although some on the streets have called for his resignation – several hundred Olympic volunteers say they are stepping down – most policymakers have refrained from doing so and simply condemned his words. Japan is a country that largely works on consensus with politicians – often older people and men – acting behind the scenes and dropping test balloons to feel the sentiment of the public.
Here are examples of comments and observations about what happened as pressure mounted on Mori.
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AKIO TOYODA, President of Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota is one of 14 so-called TOP Olympic Sponsors that donate approximately $ 1 billion per four-year Olympic cycle to the International Olympic Committee. Society rarely speaks out on politics, but this week President Akio Toyoda said, “(Mori’s) comment is different from our values, and we find it regrettable.” Toyota and Coca-Cola are also major sponsors of the torch relay, which is due to take place on March 25. Toyota did not call on Mori to resign. but his comments made the headlines.
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YURIKO KOIKE, Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Koike called Mori’s comments a “major problem” for the Olympics. She is one of the few powerful female politicians in Japan and has worked closely at the Olympics. She said she will skip an Olympic meeting next week with IOC President Thomas Bach, Mori and the national government. “I don’t think holding discussions under the current circumstances will produce a positive message,” she said. “I will not be attending the meeting.”
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KOICHI NAKANO, political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo
Koike, as a natural populist, feels the political gains by using her position as a leading politician. Koike isn’t a feminist, but she knows that being a woman in a very conservative, male-dominated Japan can be used to her advantage. By refusing to attend the meeting, she may indicate that she is more in touch with the widely shared sentiment in Japanese society that Mori should step down.
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THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
The IOC accepted Mori’s apology and said the case was closed. Then he waited almost a week to issue a stronger statement and said his remarks were “absolutely inappropriate.” He stressed that the local organizing committee also called the remarks “inappropriate”. The IOC has not publicly called on Mori to resign. Most of his statements about Mori have focused on how he claims to have improved gender equality at the Olympics over the past 25 years.
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MIZUHO FUKUSHIMA, leader of the Social Democratic Party
Opposition leaders pressured Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to convince Mori to resign. There are unconfirmed reports in Japan that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could replace Mori. Mori got his job in 2014, when Abe was prime minister.
“We have to tell the world that Japan is a country determined to create a gender-equal society,” Fukushima said. “He (Mori) has to resign.”
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PA editors Yuri Kageyama and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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