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HomeGlobal NewsTokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori 'to step down' after sexist remarks

Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori ‘to step down’ after sexist remarks

The Tokyo Olympics chief’s sexist remarks have been branded “ignorant” and sparked a backlash both in parliament and on social media

Yoshiro Mori, the president of the organising committee for the Tokyo Olympics is reportedly set to step down after saying that women talk too much in meetings.

Yoshiro Mori will be resigning on Friday when the committee’s executive board meets, according to the Japanese Kyodo news agency.

The 83-year-old man had made these sexist remarks during an online meeting with the committee’s board of trustees earlier this month, where he had also said that women are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry”.

This comes after a new mutation of the COVID-19 virus has been discovered in Japan, with health officials in the country saying that it has similarities to that of the recently-discovered highly-contagious coronavirus variants that have been found in Britain and South Africa.

“If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying,” Yoshiro Mori was quoted as to saying by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

He later retracted the words he said at a news conference, acknowledging that it was inappropriate, but when he pressed on whether or not he really thought that women talked too much, he replied: “I don’t listen to women that much lately, so I don’t know.”

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The former Japanese prime minister had refused to resign at the time, but his comments have since drawn sharp criticism in parliament, where some opposition politicians demanded that he quit from his role.

Mr Mori’s remarks also brought on a considerable amount of backlash on social media platforms, with a petition circulated calling for Yoshiro Mori’s resignation.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka, one of Japan’s most prominent sports stars, criticised the remarks, calling him “ignorant”.

“I feel like that was a really ignorant statement to make,” the 23-year-old told France 24.

Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori 'to step down' after sexist remarks
Naomi Osaka

“I think that someone that makes comments like that, they need to have more knowledge on the thing that they’re talking about.”

Cold chills, loss of appetite, headaches and muscle aches could be newly discovered symptoms of COVID-19 infection, according to a new study from Imperial College London, of over one million people, those with these symptoms were more likely to end up testing positive for the coronavirus.

Yoshiro Mori is reportedly set to be replaced by former Japan Football Association president and mayor of the Olympics village, Saburo Kawabuchi.

It is the latest setback for this year’s Games, set to go ahead on the 23rd of July despite large swathes of the public saying they believe the tournament should be postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic.

The event had already been pushed back once after it was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

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