Japanese women angry at Mori discrimination remarks…”Do not be silent” campaign spreads

Protests are spreading over Japan’s Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee Chairman Yoshiro Mori’s remarks against women. More than 120,000 people participated in the online petition site with a signature requesting the elimination of gender discrimination. Foreign embassies in Japan also joined the protest by posting pictures of the hashtag (#dontbesilent) meaning “don’t be silent” on social media (SNS).

During the Japan Olympic Organizing Committee (JOC) meeting on the 3rd, Chairman Mori raised controversy with remarks such as “If there are many female directors, the meeting takes longer” and “Women have a strong sense of competition.” After that, an apology conference was held on the 4th, but when asked about the intention to resign from the chairman, it became controversial again with a high-pressure attitude such as “If I am oversized garbage, wipe it out”.

A total of more than 125,000 people participated in the signing, ‘We will review the treatment of Chairman Mori and ask for the prevention of recurrence’, which began on the online petition site’Change.org’ on the night of the 4th. Celebrities such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, a master of Japanese film music, also joined.

According to the Mainichi newspaper on the 7th, it was women in their 20s and 30s who led the signing. They started this campaign with the aim of’I do not want to pass on gender discrimination to the next generation’. The title deliberately demanded that Chairman Mori resign, instead of “reviewing the treatment of the chairmanship and preventing recurrence”. It means “not just changing the head office, but suggesting concrete measures (to eliminate gender discrimination).”

They are calling for concrete measures to increase the percentage of female directors in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committees to a minimum of 40%.

European embassies in Japan are also sending messages in support of Japanese people protesting the remarks of President Mori. On the 5th, the German Embassy in Japan posted a post with hashtags such as’#dontbesilent’ and’#genderequality’ along with photos of embassy employees holding their left hands.

This post has been retweeted more than 1700 times, and more than 47,000’Likes’ are being run, and it is receiving favorable responses. Following this, the representatives of the European Union (EU) in Japan and the Swedish and Finnish embassies in Japan posted posts with the same hashtag on Twitter and expressed their participation.

According to the Asahi Shimbun on the 6th, there were more than 542 calls in Tokyo calling for Chairman Mori’s resignation by the evening of the 5th. Fourteen of the applicants for Olympic volunteers also said they would cancel volunteering because of President Mori’s comments.

Criticism from celebrities also continued. Ahead of the Australian Open, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka (23), who is competing at the Gripsland Trophy in Melbourne, received a question about President Mori’s remarks at a press conference on the 6th. “I have to do it,” he said, “really ignorant.”

Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Young-hee [email protected]