TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games chief Yoshiro Mori is due to resign on Friday because of sexist comments he made earlier this month with the mayor of the Olympic village, Saburo Kawabuchi, saying Mori asked for him to take over.
Kawabuchi said he was crying before a meeting at which he accepted Mori’s request on Thursday.
“Sir. Mori was straightforward in saying, ‘I want you to assume now that this has happened,'” Kawabuchi, 84, told reporters on Thursday night.
“I thought about how hard it must be for him and I couldn’t stop crying,” said Kawabuchi.
Mori, 83, a former Japanese prime minister, has sparked global protests with sexist comments that women talk too much, which he did during an Olympic committee meeting.
Mori apologized for his comments, but so far he has not resigned despite growing resignations.
His resignation less than six months before the start of the Summer Olympics should raise new doubts about the feasibility of holding the Games postponed this year.
Game officials are already struggling to hold a safe Olympics, with tens of thousands of athletes and possibly spectators, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kawabuchi, who represented Japan in football at the 1964 Olympics and former president of the Japanese Football Association, said he wanted Mori to play a consultant role at the Games to help make the event a success.
Kawabuchi’s choice raised questions on social media about whether there was a better alternative than an older male figure.
Later on Friday, the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, which has not officially commented on Mori’s resignation, plans to hold a meeting of its board and executive board, followed by a news conference.
Mori will explain his position at Friday’s meeting, Japanese Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto told parliament, referring to a phone call with Mori.
Hashimoto said the government will continue to work with other parties, including the International Olympic Committee, to prepare for the event based on Olympic principles.
Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Michael Perry and Raju Gopalakrishnan