TOKYO (AP) – Yoshiro Mori’s long saga seems nearing completion.
The Japanese news agency Kyodo and others reported on Thursday – citing unnamed sources – that Yoshiro Mori will resign on Friday as chairman of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.
The movement follows its sexist comments about women more than a week ago and a public debate that followed and rarely in Japan on gender equality,
A decision is expected to be announced on Friday when the executive committee of the organizing committee meets. The Tokyo 2020 Executive Committee is an overwhelming man, as is the day-to-day leadership.
Mori, 83, at a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee more than a week ago, said in essence that women “talk too much” and are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry.” Mori, a former prime minister, apologized a few days later after his views were reported, but refused to resign.
This is more than just another issue for the postponed Olympics, which made the risky choice to try 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 the latest polls say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s remarks were outrageous in many ways and highlighted how much Japan lags behind other prosperous countries in terms of women’s progress in politics or council chambers. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 in the ranking of the World Economic Forum on Gender Equality.
Although some on the street have called for him to resign – several hundred Olympic volunteers say they are retiring – most decision-makers have stopped and simply condemned his remarks. Japan is a country that works largely by consensus with politicians – often the elderly and men – who act behind the scenes and leak test balloons to feel public sentiment.
Here are examples of comments and observations about what played out as the 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 who pay about $ 1 billion in each four-year Olympic cycle to the International Olympic Committee. The company rarely speaks out on politics, but this week President Akio Toyoda said, “The comment (Mori) is different from our values and we find it unfortunate.” Toyota and Coca-Cola are also major sponsors of the evil torch, which is set for March 25. Toyota did not demand Mori’s resignation. but his comments received the main attention.
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YURIKO KOIKE, Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Koike called Mori’s comments a “major issue” for the Olympics. She is one of the few strong women politicians in Japan and has worked closely at the Olympics. She said she would skip an Olympic meeting next week with CIO President Thomas Bach, Mori and the national government. “I do not think that the discussions in the current circumstances will produce a positive message,” she said. “I will not attend the meeting.”
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KOICHI NAKANO, political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo
“Koike, as a natural populist, smells of political gains using her position as a prominent political woman. Koike is not 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 connected to the widespread shared feeling in Japanese society that Mori should resign. “
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INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
The IOC accepted Mori’s apology and said the case was closed. He then waited almost a week for a stronger statement and said his remarks were “absolutely inappropriate”. He stressed that the local organizing committee also considered the remarks “inappropriate”. The IOC did not publicly demand that Mori resign. Most of his statements about Mori focused on how he says he has 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 have urged Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to persuade Mori to resign. There are unconfirmed reports in Japan that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could replace Mori. Mori took office in 2014, when Abe was prime minister.
“We need to tell the world that Japan is a country committed to creating a gender-equal society,” Fukushima said. “He (Mori) must resign.”
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AP writers Yuri Kageyama and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
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