TOKYO – The excitement about sexual comments by the head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, was marked by the special absence of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who had little to say.
It took Mori eight days to decide to retire after he said on February 3 that board meetings with many women “take so long” because of the “strong sense of competition,” which stop criticism of fire in Japan and abroad.
Suga said the next day that the comments “should not have been made.” On Feb. 5, he said in response to a question in a Diet session that Mori’s words were “totally against gender equality, an important principle of the Olympics.”
The prime minister’s responses gradually took on a more urgent tone. Mori’s comments were not “favorable” to national interest, he said Monday. But Suga continued to avoid the question of whether the Olympic leader should stay or leave, arguing that it was not up to him to decide.
Other senior officials in Suga’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party were strongly in favor of defending Mori, insisting it would be “difficult to replace.” Almost no one openly called for his retirement. Seiko Noda, the party’s executive secretary, was about the only one who mentioned Mori’s ability to resign voluntarily.
The government’s failure to act highlights one of its weak points: a lack of support for the dirty work that Suga himself handled for his former Shinzo Abe. As Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, Suga pressured cabinet ministers to resign after gaffes, but no one is playing this role for Suga anymore.
Mori was a leader of the Hosoda group of the LDP, the largest party in the party, and remains a heavy party. Suga, who does not belong to either side, won the September LDP final race thanks in large part to support from Hosoda hair. The fragility of his support base within the party means he has little choice but to be friendly with Mori.
The hope was that the matter would blow over after Mori apologized and withdrew his views, but the fur only increased. European embassies in Japan posted pictures with critical hashtags on Twitter, and hundreds of Olympic volunteers dropped out, along with a multi-runner in the torch relay.
The sponsors of the games also expressed their displeasure. Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda said in a statement that he was “disappointed” with Mori’s comments, while Japan’s Eastern Railway President Yuji Fukasawa called them “highly inappropriate.”
After initially saying they thought the affair was “closed” by Mori’s apology the next day, the International Olympic Committee had to change course in response to their fierce global backlash. Earlier in the week, the agency urged Mori to resign, saying his comments were “totally inappropriate and contrary to the IOC’s promises.”