Seiko Hashimoto’s new Tokyo Olympic Paralympic Organizing Chair reported on the weekly magazine Shukanbunshun related to sexual harassment in the past. Tokyo = Correspondent Hoe-kyung Kim
Japan’s Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto was elected as the new Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizer chairman on the 18th. On behalf of former Chairman Yoshiro Mori, who resigned in the face of internal and external criticism with a remark of’deprecating women’, he oversees the practice of preparing for the Olympics for more than five months. The rush of fire surrounding the successor leader seems to have turned off, but concerns remain, as the new chairman Hashimoto is also a person who has been suspicious of sexual harassment.
Chairman Hashimoto was unanimously inaugurated at the board of directors of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee on the afternoon of the 18th. After taking office, he said, “I’m nervous to take on the helm. I will try for the success of the Olympics.” As if conscious of former Chairman Mori, who was criticized for being criticized for being against the spirit of the Olympics for gender equality, he emphasized, “I want to properly confirm diversity and harmony,” and “I want to create such a legacy.”
Chairman Hashimoto is a former athlete who won the bronze medal for the first time as a Japanese female athlete in the speed skating 1,500m at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. Since then, he turned to a cyclist and has participated in the 7 Olympic Games from 1984 to 1996, including the Summer Olympics. He entered politics in 1995 and was first elected as a member of the House of Councilors, and has served as the Olympic Minister since September 2019.
Seiko Hashimoto is the new Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing chair. Tokyo=EPA Yonhap News
However, there is a history of climbing on the cutting board after a weekly report that he kissed a male figure skater of Takahashi forcibly shortly after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, when he was the chairman of the Japan Skating Federation. At that time, criticism was raised for sexual harassment using a dominant position. Accordingly, social network service (SNS) is criticizing that “the predecessor resigned due to derogatory remarks against women, but this time it is strange that a woman who has been sexually harassed will succeed.”
At the time he entered politics, Mori was former chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party. Chairman Hashimoto belongs to Hosodapa, the largest faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, whose influence is exerted by former Chairman Mori. When Chairman Hashimoto visited the organizing committee as the 2019 Olympic Minister in charge of the Olympic Games, when Mori then said, “I think I’m a daughter,” he laughed and replied, “I am my father.” This is the background of concerns that Mori could exert influence even after he took office.
Conscious of the fall of the external image of women’s demeaning remarks, he proposed a’female in his 50s’, a former athlete, but the weak administrative experience is pointed out as a weakness. It is unreasonable for the timber to overcome all kinds of obstacles including the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and play the Tokyo Olympics.
Tokyo= Kim Hoe-kyung Correspondent [email protected]
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