Still, the 56-year-old said at a press conference on Thursday that her predecessor is a "special person" and her "mentor" who showed her the way in the world of politics. The seven-time Olympian also said there will be times when she seeks the counsel of Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister of Japan, who retains heavy influence over the country's sports community.
She's the logical choice, but with her very cosy relationship with Mori, I don't see this as a big progressive leap forward in gender inequality that it's being spun to be.To follow up on the story: after a week of deliberations, the Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, was appointed head of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee. Yes, very symbolic and progressive, so I thought, too. To my surprise, my wife was very disappointed. She called Mrs Hashimoto "only muscle and no brain" and too close to Mr Mori, whom the new Olympic head sees as a father-like figure.
According to the article below, she called him her "mentor" but won't give him an official role in the committee.
Tokyo Olympics head Hashimoto will not give Mori any official role in Games - The Mainichi
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Seiko Hashimoto, newly installed head of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, has decided her disgraced predecessormainichi.jp
It's going to be very interesting how things pan out. Normally the Japanese media obligingly do a massive job in manufacturing excitement for such events, which many Japanese people are lukewarm about, as they were until Feburary last year.Knowing nothing about her my first thought was that it's progressive but they're going to leave a woman holding the bag. It's a no win situation for her because it's hard to imagine pulling off a successful Olympics at this point.
Think of all the souvenirs that were bought at wholesale. Someone powerful doesn't want to get burnt. Sacrifice Japan , sure why not. Have the Olympics.I guess not even the Japanese media could turn the current public mood into an Olympic euphoria. With vaccinations delayed and new variants of the virus emerging, how can anyone reasonably sane allow 20,000 people from all over the world to descend on Tokyo?
However, assuming the decision to cancel the games has already been taken, what would be the point of not announcing it asap?
Damn it, you're being rational there! Enormous loss of face, the way the Japanese seem to have to be gradually introduced to news which I think I've talked about in other posts (by the time the announcement on the resignation/state of emergency, etc., is made, everyone knows what is going to happen), the tendency for the Japanese to bury 'bad' news until it's unavoidable - certainly in the company I mainly work for, there is a fetish for hiding information that would be both beneficial for me to know and beneficial for them for me to know.However, assuming the decision to cancel the games has already been taken, what would be the point of not announcing it asap?
Sorry but I think the pride of a few thousand athletes is way down the list of things of importance. I imagine that most athletes would agree with me, however disappointed some of them will be not to compete.The Olympics I think should be held. And not for the financial gain of a few, but for the pride of the Olympians.
Hard to say. Many of them have trained their whole lives for this chance. I imagine most would want to compete one way or another.Sorry but I think the pride of a few thousand athletes is way down the list of things of importance. I imagine that most athletes would agree with me, however disappointed some of them will be not to compete.
"I don't quite understand why only President Putin is criticized while Mr. Zelenskyy isn't taken to task at all. Mr. Zelenskyy has made many Ukrainian people suffer," Mori told a political gathering in Tokyo. Mori, 85, was active in strengthening bilateral ties with Russia through talks with Putin when he was prime minister in the 2000s. After he retired as a lawmaker 10 years ago, he met with Putin as a special envoy of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The former premier also lashed out at Japanese news outlets, saying their "one-sided" reporting on the war in Ukraine gives him the impression they "only rely on reports from Europe and the United States."
My first instinct is to wonder who paid him to make the comment.Mr Mori blabbermouth... this week, he lambasted the Ukrainian president Zelenskyy at a political gathering in Tokyo, saying he could not understand why only Mr Putin was being criticised: Mr Zelenskyy had made many Ukrainian people suffer.
Ex-Japan PM harsh on Zelenskyy over war in Ukraine - The Mainichi
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, implying it is not fair tomainichi.jp
My first instinct is to wonder who paid him to make the comment.
Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Jan. 25 questioned Japan's overwhelming support for Ukraine, saying there is no way Russia will lose the war. At an event in Tokyo to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Japan-India Association, Mori mentioned that good relations have developed between Japan and Russia over the years. "Should we be supporting Ukraine to this extent? It is unthinkable that Russia will lose," he said. "A much more terrible situation would emerge if that were to happen, and Japan would have to play an important role. I believe that would be the job facing Japan."
"I hate running against a woman," said Mori, now 85. "While I should not disparage women, their campaign tactics are just out of this world." That was the election when the DPJ rode voter discontent with the LDP to drive the party out of power and engineer a short-lived government change. Mori faced Mieko Tanaka, then 33, in the Ishikawa No. 2 single-seat district. Tanaka had no political experience or direct ties to the local district. However, she still came within about 4,000 votes of upsetting the former prime minister, who had won 13 terms until then. Looking back on that election, Mori said, "I felt as though I had worked for the benefit of the nation and the local community, but to find out people were willing to give almost the same number of votes as myself to such a woman made me lose trust in my own district."
女性相手というのは嫌だ。女性を軽蔑してはいけないが、もうとにかく女性の戦法っていうのは、空中戦なのか何なのか訳がわからない。
What is he up to these days?
Good Old Boys like to surround themselves with other Good Old Boys.Still spouting his sexist slurs. I wonder why anyone would invite him to a fundraiser.