BEVERLY HILLS, February 06, (THEWILL) – An online petition calling for action against Yoshiro Mori, head of the organising committee for Tokyo’s Olympics, who recently caused an uproar with sexist comments, had gathered more than 110,000 signatures as of Saturday evening, two days after its launch by Japanese activists.
As reported by THEWILL, the 83-year-old committee chief, set off a storm on social media at home and abroad by saying women talked too much, in remarks made in a meeting with the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC). Although Mori later retracted his comments and apologised, he refused to resign.
On Thursday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that Mori’s apology was enough to settle the issue, even though Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike said the games were facing a “major issue” as a result.
The petition was started by a Japanese student activist Momoko Nojo. The young lady, who leads a group called “No Youth, No Japan”, said she and other activists started the petition on Change.org to convey the public’s anger to Mori, directly.
By 6 p.m. local time on Saturday, the petition had gathered over 110,000 signatures online.
“The Olympics is an international event, and he is the top person representing Japan. It is not right for him to make such remarks, and for everyone to let it go by saying ‘Oh well, he’s a grandpa’. If there are people who say it is wrong, if they think it is wrong, we have to voice it,” Nojo said.
In the petition, the signatories called on the JOC to take action against Mori, although it also stopped short of calling for his removal. Nojo said the incident had angered many people in Japan and reflected wider societal problems that still persist.
“This situation with Mori is not only his personal problem or an issue with the Olympics. It’s also a problem within companies and top-down organization structures in Japanese society.
“It is a problem when people cannot speak up when someone superior says something outdated. We want to take this opportunity to change that through our petition so that people can speak up more and our society will change for the better.”
In rankings of nations surveyed in the 2020 global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum, Japan persistently trailed its peers with a 121 out of 153 rank in the promotion of gender equality.
Angry reactions caused by Mori’s comments were evident in some of the messages posted under the petition. “Please have a generational change,” one signatory wrote. “Don’t look down on women” and “President Mori should resign,” other messages read.
At great cost to the organisers, the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The opening ceremony is scheduled for July 23. There is no guarantee that Mori will still be in charge of the JOC by that date.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
