TOKYO (AP) – Yoshiro Mori resigned on Friday as chairman of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, after sexist comments suggesting that women talk too much.
“Starting today, I will resign as president,” he said as he opened a meeting of the executive board and board. The council is due to choose its successor on Friday. Mori was nominated in 2014, just a few months after Tokyo won the bid to host the Olympics.
“My inappropriate comments have caused a lot of chaos,” he said. He repeated several times that he had regretted the comments, but also said that he had “no intention of neglecting women”.
Mori’s departure comes after more than a week of constant criticism of his comments earlier this month. He initially apologized, but refused to step aside, which was followed by relentless pressure from television analysts, sponsors and an online petition that drew 150,000 signatures.
But it is not clear whether his resignation will clear the air and return the focus to exactly how Tokyo can host the Olympics in just over five months in the midst of a pandemic.
The Olympics are due to start on July 23, with 11,000 athletes and another 4,400 at the Paralympics a month later. About 80% in recent polls in Japan say they want the Olympics to be canceled or postponed with clear support of around 15%.
The first reports said that Mori, 83, chose Saburo Kawabuchi, former president of the Japanese football regulator and also a former player. He played for Japan at the 1964 Olympics.
Kawabuchi is even older than Mori and will raise the question of why a woman was not named. This is the center of the whole debate that Mori sparked about gender inequality in Japan and the absence of women on boards of directors, politics and sports governance. Women are also absent from leadership positions on the organizing committee.
Kawabuchi indicated on Thursday that he had been contacted by Mori and would accept the job if offered. But he said later that it may not be the appropriate choice and appeared to be withdrawing.
Japanese media immediately pointed out that there were three qualified women – all athletes and former Olympic athletes and at least one younger generation – who could fill the position.
Kaori Yamaguchi won the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in judo. Mikako Kotani won two bronze medals at the 1988 Olympics in synchronized swimming. And Naoko Takahashi was a gold medalist in the 2000 Olympics marathon.
Seiko Hashimoto, the current Olympic minister and former Olympic athlete, was also mentioned as a candidate.
Mori’s comments highlighted how far Japan is behind other prosperous countries in advancing women in politics or in meeting rooms. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality ranking.
Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo, characterized Japan as a country still managed “by an old people’s club”. But he said it could be a game changer.
“Social norms are changing,” he wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “A clear majority of Japanese people found Mori’s comments unacceptable, so the problem has more to do with the lack of representation of women in leadership positions. This unfortunate episode may have the effect of strengthening the call for greater gender equality and diversity in the corridors of power. “
While some on the streets have called for Mori’s resignation – several hundred Olympic volunteers say they are withdrawing – most decision-makers, including Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, stopped speaking and simply condemned his comments.
A comment a few days ago from the president of Toyota Motor Corp., Akio Toyoda, seemed to touch the needle.
Toyota is one of 14 so-called Olympic sponsors, who pay about $ 1 billion each four-year cycle to the International Olympic Committee. The company rarely talks about politics, and Toyota did not ask for Mori’s resignation. But just talking about it may have been enough.
“The comment (Mori) is different from our values and we find it regrettable.” Toyoda said.
Toyota and Coca-Cola are also the main sponsors of the torch relay.
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The Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.
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