Tokyo Olympics boss Yoshiro Mori to resign over sexist remarks

Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori will resign over sexist remarks that have sparked outrage in Japan and abroad, reports say.

Multiple major Japanese media outlets are reporting on Thursday that Mori has told officials he will step down and announce his resignation at a meeting of Games organisers on Friday.

Tokyo Olympics athletes village mayor Saburo Kawabuchi is said to succeed Mori.

Gaffe-prone Mori, 83, has come under increasing pressure after he said last week that women "have difficulty" speaking concisely.

The 83-year-old complained that Olympic committee meetings were taking too long because competitive women in attendance spoke too much.

He has apologised for the remarks, but dug a deeper hole when he insisted he had heard complaints that women speak at length.

Condemnation

Politicians and sports stars were quick to condemn the comments, with heavyweight sponsors also saying they ran contrary to the Olympic spirit.

The International Olympic Committee said they considered the matter closed, but then said the remarks were "completely inappropriate" as the backlash grew.

The sexism row has become yet another headache for Olympic organisers and officials already battling public disquiet over holding the Games this summer as the pandemic continues to rage.

READ MORE: Tokyo Olympics chief Mori won’t resign after sexist comments

An online campaign calling for action against Mori has attracted more than 146,000 signatures, while tennis superstar Naomi Osaka slammed his comments as "ignorant".

Since Mori's remarks, around 400 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers have quit, according to Tokyo 2020, which has said the number includes withdrawals for all reasons.

121st out of 153 in gender equality

Mori's remarks have drawn outrage from many quarters and have put the spotlight on how far Japan lags behind other prosperous countries in advancing women in politics or the boardrooms. 

Japan stands 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality rankings.

But majority of Japan have called for him to resign and several hundred Olympic volunteers resigned.

Most decision makers have come out and condemned his remarks. 

Japan is a country that works largely on consensus with politicians, often elderly and male, acting behind the scenes and leaking trial balloons to sense public sentiment.

Here are samples of comments and observations about what has been playing out as pressure has mounted on Mori.

Akio Toyoda , president of Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota is one of 14 so-called Olympic TOP sponsors that pay about $1 billion every four-year Olympic cycle to the International Olympic Committee. 

The company seldom speaks out on politics, but this week President Akio Toyoda said: “The (Mori) comment is different from our values, and we find it regrettable."

Toyota and Coca-Cola are also major sponsors of the torch relay, which is to being on March 25. Toyota has not called for Mori to resign. but its comments have received headline attention.

Yuriko Koike, governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Koike called Mori's comments a “major issue” for the Olympics. She is one of the few powerful female politicians in Japan and has worked closely on the Olympics. 

She said she will skip an Olympic meeting next week with IOC President Thomas Bach, Mori, and the national government. 

“I don’t think holding talks under the current circumstances will produce a positive message,” she said.
“I will not attend the meeting.”

Koichi Nakano, political scientist at Tokyo's Sophia University

'Koike, as a natural populist, smells political gains by making use of her standing as a prominent female politician. Koike is no 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 can indicate that she is more in touch with the widely shared sentiment in the Japanese society that Mori should resign.”

The International Olympic Committee

The IOC accepted Mori's apology and said the case was closed. Then it waited almost a week to issue a more forceful statement and said his remarks were “absolutely inappropriate.

” It pointed out that the local organising committee also called the remarks “inappropriate.” 

The IOC has not called publicly for Mori to resign. Most of its statement about Mori focused on how it says it has improved gender-equality in the Olympics over the last 25 years.

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Democratic Socialist Party

Opposition leaders have been pressuring Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to convince Mori to step down.

There are unconfirmed reports in Japan that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might replace Mori. Mori got his job in 2014, when Abe was prime minister.

“We must tell the world that Japan is a country committed to making a gender-equal society,” Fukushima said. “He (Mori) must step down.”

READ MORE: Poll: 80% want Tokyo Games cancelled or delayed because of pandemic