TOKYO (AP) – Yoshiro Mori’s long story seems to be at the end.
Japanese news agency Kyodo and others reported Thursday – citing unnamed sources – that Yoshiro Mori will step down as chairman of the Olympic organizing committee in Tokyo on Friday.
The move follows his sexist comments about women more than a week ago, and a subsequent and rare public debate in Japan on gender equality,
A decision is expected to be announced Friday when the board of the organizing committee meets. The Tokyo 2020 board of directors is overwhelmingly masculine, as is the day-to-day management.
Mori, 83, said at a meeting of Japan’s Olympic Committee more than a week ago, essentially, that women “talk too much” and are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry.” Mori, a former prime minister, reluctantly apologized a few days later after his opinion was made, but he refused to resign.
This is more than just another problem for the delayed Olympics, which made the risky choice of trying to open on July 23 in the midst of a pandemic involving 11,000 athletes – and later 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
More than 80% of the Japanese public in recent polls say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s comments have sparked outrage from many quarters and have shed a spotlight on how far behind Japan is behind other affluent countries in promoting women in politics or the boardrooms. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality ranking.
While some on the street have called for him to resign – several hundred Olympic volunteers say they are withdrawing – most decision-makers have not stopped doing this and have simply condemned his comments. Japan is a country that works largely on the basis of consensus with politicians – often the elderly and men – performing behind the scenes and leaking test balloons to sense public sentiment.
Here are examples of comments and observations about what is going on as the pressure on Mori has increased.
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AKIO TOYODA, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota is one of 14 so-called TOP Olympic sponsors who pay approximately $ 1 billion to the International Olympic Committee every four-year Olympic cycle. The company rarely speaks out on politics, but this week President Akio Toyoda said, “(Mori’s) comment deviates from our values, and we’re sorry.” Toyota and Coca-Cola are also major sponsors of the Torch Relay, which takes place March 25. Toyota has not called on Mori to resign. but his comments have received attention.
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YURIKO KOIKE, Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Koike called Mori’s comments a “big deal” 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 with IOC President Thomas Bach, Mori and the national government next week. “I don’t think holding lectures will deliver a positive message under the current circumstances,” she said. “I will not be attending the meeting.”
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KOICHI NAKANO, political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo
As a natural populist, Koike smells political gain by taking advantage of her status as a prominent female politician. Koike is not a feminist, but she knows that in a very conservative, male-dominated Japan, being a woman can be used to her advantage. By refusing to attend the meeting, she can indicate that she is more in touch with the widely shared feeling in Japanese society that Mori should step down. “
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THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
The IOC accepted Mori’s apology, saying the case was closed. It then waited nearly a week to issue a more forceful statement, saying its comments were “absolutely inappropriate.” It pointed out that the local organizing committee also called the comments “inappropriate”. The IOC has not publicly called on Mori to resign. Most of its statement about Mori has focused on how it says it has improved gender equality in the Olympics over the past 25 years.
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MIZUHO FUKUSHIMA, head of the Social Democratic Party
Opposition leaders have pressured Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to convince Mori to resign. There are unconfirmed reports in Japan that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Mori could replace. Mori got his job in 2014 when Abe was Prime Minister.
“We must tell the world that Japan is a country committed to gender equality in society,” said Fukushima. “He (Mori) must resign.”
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AP writers Yuri Kageyama and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
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