The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to open in just over four
months, dogged by the coronavirus pandemic, record costs, and numerous
scandals. And all of this converges as the Olympic torch relay starts next week
from northeastern Japan, a risky venture with 10,000 runners set to crisscross
Japan for four months.
Sasaki's resignation is the latest blow.
Last year he suggested to planning staff members in online
“brainstorming exchanges” that well-known entertainer Naomi Watanabe could
perform in the ceremony as an “Olympig.”
Watanabe is a female fashion icon and very famous in Japan.
Sasaki's “Olympig” reference was an obvious play on the word “Olympic.”
It comes just a month after the president of the organizing
committee, Yoshiro Mori, was forced to resign after making sexist comments that
women talk too much in meetings.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called Sasaki's comments
"extremely embarrassing,”
“When we are talking about what we deliver from Tokyo, or
from Japan, we shouldn’t be sending a negative message," Koike said
Thursday.
Sasaki released a statement saying he was stepping down. He
said he had also called Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the organizing
committee, and tendered his resignation.
“For Ms. Naomi Watanabe, my idea and comments are a big
insult. And it is unforgivable," Sasaki said. "I offer my deepest
regrets and apologize from the depth of my heart to her, and those who may have
been offended by this.”
“It is truly regrettable, and I apologize from the bottom of
my heart,"
Hashimoto said in a Thursday news conference that she had
accepted his resignation. She said a replacement would come quickly, and also
indicated she had tried to persuade him to stay.
“I did feel that way but he explained, and his intention was
very strong,” Hashimoto said. “That is how I felt. For those reasons I decided
to accept his resignation.”
Hashimoto also said she talked with IOC member John Coates,
who oversees preparations for Tokyo.
“The IOC also received the (magazine) article and they were
quite concerned," Hashimoto said.
Hashimoto, who has appeared in seven Olympics and won a
bronze medal in 1992, took over a month ago when Mori made similar sexist
comments and was forced out. Hashimoto has acted quickly and appointed 12 women
to the organizing committee's executive board, increasing female membership to
42 percent. It had been 20 percent.
“The IOC and Japanese politics are male-dominated
territories,” Dr. Barbara Holthus, deputy director of the German Institute for
Japanese Studies in Tokyo, told The Associated Press. “Japanese politicians
have a long history of furthering gender inequalities — besides many other
inequalities.”
Sasaki was in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies
for the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 23. He also designed the
Tokyo handover ceremony at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and arranged a
one-year-to-go event in July at Tokyo's new National Stadium.
He formerly worked for the giant Japanese advertising
company Dentsu Inc., which has been a key supporter of these Olympics. It is
the official marketing partner and has helped to raise a record of $3.5 billion
in local sponsorship, almost three times as much as any previous Olympics.
But the games have been buffeted by the pandemic and seem
snake-bitten, causing new problems and more expenses almost weekly. Support has
plummeted with various polls suggesting about 80 percent of Japanese want the
Olympics canceled or postponed again. They cite the costs and the risks of
holding the mega-event during a pandemic.
Japan has controlled the virus better than most countries
and has attributed about 8,700 deaths to the virus. Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga announced Thursday that the government will lift the coronavirus state of
emergency in the Tokyo area on Sunday, but the capital's governor warned
citizens not to let down their guard.
Organizers and the IOC insist the Olympics will go forward
during the pandemic with 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes entering
Japan. Official costs for Tokyo are $15.4 billion but several government audits
show the real cost might be twice that much.
A University of Oxford study says Tokyo is the most
expensive Olympics on record