TOKYO: The president of the Tokyo Olympic organising committee said he may need to resign over comments he made about women if calls for him to do so strengthen, the Mainichi newspaper quoted him as saying on Thursday.
Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister and head of the Tokyo committee organising the postponed Summer Games this year, caused an uproar with remarks that board meetings with women take too long because they talk too much, which was “annoying”.
Anger over Mori’s comments is likely to further alienate a Japanese public that has grown increasingly wary of Tokyo’s attempts to hold the Games during a pandemic.
Nearly 80 percent of the Japanese public opposes holding the Games as scheduled in July, according to the most recent poll.
Mori’s comments caused immediate furore on social media, where the hashtag “Mori, please resign” was trending on Twitter in Japan on Thursday morning.
In an apparent protest of Mori’s comments, Noriko Mizoguchi, a former judo silver medallist, tweeted the International Olympic Committee’s code of ethics and said that any type of harassment should be rejected.
Renho, a prominent opposition lawmaker, called Mori’s remarks “shameful”.
“His comments run counter to the spirit of Olympics that denounces discrimination and calls for friendship, solidarity and fairness,” she said in a tweet.