Japan is supposed to use Olympics to boost the positive image of Japan to the world, but instead, As Tokyo Olympics game 2021 getting near to start, the reality of Japan is exposed to the world. The advanced image of Japan being held among the majority of people living outside of Japan is just an illusion.
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Japan Olympics chief who said women talk too much will resign over remarks, reports say
“Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games organizing committee, said last week that women talk too much in meetings. (Issei Kato/Reuters)”
By Simon Denyer and Julia Mio Inuma Feb. 11, 2021 at 5:01 a.m. PST
TOKYO — The head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee is set to resign, Japanese media reported Thursday, after an uproar over sexist remarks he made about women at a meeting last week.
Yoshiro Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister with a record of insensitive and sexist pronouncements, had tried to justify the lack of women at a senior level in the Japanese Olympic Committee by saying women talk too much at meetings and make them run on too long. The following day, he apologized but showed no apparent remorse and said he had no intention of resigning.
The comments provoked an unprecedented reaction in Japan, with more than 146,000 people signing an online petition calling on him to step down. Nearly 500 Olympic volunteers withdrew, and one poll found fewer than 7 percent of respondents thought Mori was qualified to continue in his role.
Mori’s intention to resign was reported by public broadcaster NHK and the Kyodo news agency, among other outlets, citing unnamed sources.
The initial reaction to Mori’s outburst among Japan’s elderly, conservative male elite was to brush off the outrage. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, 72, first told parliament he was “not familiar with the remarks,” to boos from the opposition, before saying they were “unfavorable to the national interest” but claiming it was not up to him whether Mori resigned.
Amid uproar for saying women talk too much at meetings, Tokyo Olympic chief apologizes but refuses to resign
Toshihiro Nikai, the 81-year-old secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, tried to play down the withdrawal of the volunteers, predicting they would return “when things calm down.” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also closed ranks, saying last week the issue was “closed” after Mori’s “apology.”
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