Tokyo 2020<\/strong> chief Yoshiro Mori <\/strong>will step down following his remarks about women with Saburo Kawabuchi,<\/strong> a former head of the Japan Football Association<\/strong>, poised to take his place, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Mori has been subject to intense criticism since saying in a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee<\/strong>\u00a0that meetings with female participants take a long time and that they talk too much,\u00a0driven by a \u201cstrong sense of rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

He apologised and retracted his comments while also attempting to justify them, inviting further criticism.<\/p>\n

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Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
The 83-year-old former prime minister has since been subject to intense criticism around the world with the International Olympic Committee<\/strong> describing his comments as “absolutely inappropriate”.<\/a><\/p>\n
Olympic sponsors Toyota Motor Corp<\/strong> on Wednesday released a statement in which president Akio Toyoda<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n
“It is truly regrettable that (Mori’s comments) are different from the values that Toyota has cherished.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The controversy has added to the turbulence surrounding the Olympics which are scheduled to start in 161 days, 12 months after they were pushed back a year because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Kyodo News Agency claim that Mori will announce his resignation on Friday\u00a0during a special executive meeting of the Games’ organising committee which has been scheduled to address the repercussions of his comments.<\/p>\n
According to Kyodo, a person close to Mori quoted him as saying:<\/p>\n
“First of all, I have to apologise for causing trouble and say please take care of the rest of the task. What’s important is the success of the Olympics.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Mori’s remarks have led to more than 1,000 phone calls and emails to the Tokyo metropolitan government.<\/p>\n
The organising committee said about 400 volunteers for the games had withdrawn their applications as of Monday.<\/p>\n
Kawabuchi is currently the mayor of the Athletes’ Village and was a member of the Japan football team that qualified for the quarter-finals at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
The 84-year-old led the professionalisation of football in Japan as one of the founders and the inaugural president of the J-League.<\/p>\n
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