{"id":6850,"date":"2021-02-21T06:46:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T06:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6850"},"modified":"2021-03-15T21:56:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T21:56:12","slug":"how-not-to-apologize-mori-of-tokyo-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/how-not-to-apologize-mori-of-tokyo-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"How not to apologize – Mori of Tokyo Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

https:\/\/tokyo2020.org\/ja\/games\/emblem\/<\/p><\/div>\n

About 80% of Japan thinks that there should not be an Olympics in 2021.\u00a0 During that low supporting environment, \u201cYoshiro Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister (\u7dcf\u7406\u5927\u81e3sori daijin) with a record of insensitive (\u7121\u795e\u7d4c\u306amushinkeina) and sexist pronouncements, had tried to justify the lack of women at a senior level in the Japanese Olympic Committee by saying women talk too much at meetings and make them run on too long.\u00a0 The following day, he apologized (\u8b1d\u308bayamaru) but showed no apparent remorse (\u5f8c\u6094koukai) and said he had no intention of resigning (\u8f9e\u4efb\u3059\u308bjininsuru).\u201d (Washington Post 2\/11\/2021<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The whole incident shows curious vocabularies that are rooted deep in Japanese society and culture.\u00a0 Let\u2019s move away from the obvious gender inequality issue itself this time.<\/p>\n

On February 3, 2021, Mori said that female directors on the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games\u00a0were\u5f01\u3048\u3066\u3044\u308b. \u5f01\u3048\u308b<\/u>(wakimaeru) is considered a virtue in Japanese society.\u00a0 So what does that mean?\u00a0 In English, the closest would be \u201cknow one\u2019s place.\u201d It does not entirely sound positive in English, does it?\u00a0 When asked by a journalist during his apology press conference on February 4 if he meant women had to refrain from speaking, Mori got very angry, declaring that the journalist was just trying to make his article interesting.\u00a0 In Twitter, people tweet with the hashtag \u308f\u304d\u307e\u3048\u306a\u3044\u5973\u2013 a woman who does not know her place \u2013 to show that women should not be silenced.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/_NVm8lJ98Hg<\/p>\n

Mori\u2019s press conference on February 4 was to apologize for the sexist comments he made.\u00a0However, the conference is referred to as a\u00a0\u9006\u30ae\u30ec\u4f1a\u898b\u00a0<\/u><\/span>(kaiken, press conference). \u00a0\u9006\u30ae\u30ec<\/span>is a\u00a0 noun form of a very popular Japanese term –\u00a0\u9006\u30ae\u30ec\u3059\u308b\u00a0<\/span><\/u>(gyakugiresuru). It means one that is in the place to apologize starts getting angry instead.<\/p>\n

Mori started his apology speech by saying that he would take back or retract the comments. The term is \u64a4\u56de\u3059\u308b<\/u>(tekkaisuru). You can take your words back. \u00a0All should be forgotten like the old Japanese set-phrase \u2013 flush in water<\/u>(\u6c34\u306b\u6d41\u3059mizuni nagasu), meaning \u201cforgive and forget. Initially, IOC did not make a big deal about the sexist comments because Mori had \u201ctaken his words back\u201duntil the sponsors started to issue statements to condemn Mori\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

In his resignation interview on February 12, Mori apologized for his \u201cinappropriate<\/u>(\u4e0d\u9069\u5207\u306afutekisetsuna)\u201d remarks that had caused many problems, but he claimed that he had been victimized as an \u201cold fart<\/u>(\u8001\u5bb3rougai)\u201d and was treated unfairly by the media.<\/p>\n

But Mori\u2019s leaving the committee will not end society\u2019s struggle against gender discrimination.<\/p>\n

To be fair, there are people who say that the media and some people only read certain parts of his speech and unfairly criticized him, or he was being bullied.\u00a0 I did read itin its entirety, and my opinion remains the same. The general sentiment was that Japan had to prove to the world that it would not tolerate sexism. However, a Japanese TV commentator said jokingly why should we care what the US would think when the US had kept the president who had no respect for women for 4 years.\u00a0 Interesting\u2026<\/p>\n

So if you have to apologize publically in Japan, remember those terms, and do not act like Mori!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Official

About 80% of Japan thinks that there should not be an Olympics in 2021.\u00a0 During that low supporting environment, \u201cYoshiro Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister (\u7dcf\u7406\u5927\u81e3sori daijin) with a record of insensitive (\u7121\u795e\u7d4c\u306amushinkeina) and sexist pronouncements, had tried to justify the lack of women at a senior level in the Japanese Olympic Committee by…<\/p>\n

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