TOKYO: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said Wednesday that she will not attend a planned four-way meeting of high-level officials for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, following sexist remarks by games organizing committee head Yoshiro Mori.

“I’m not going to attend it as it wouldn’t send a positive message given the current situation,” Koike told reporters.

During a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee last week, Mori said meetings with a lot of women take too long because they talk too much.

The metropolitan government had received 1,405 complaints regarding Mori’s remarks as of Tuesday, and 97 volunteers assigned to guide visitors on the street during the Tokyo Games had offered to resign.

“It’s extremely sad,” Koike said.

“As the leader of the host city, I feel sorry for the discomfort caused to you people at a time when we’re trying to set the mood for the Tokyo Games while fighting the novel coronavirus,” she added.

The four-way meeting among Mori, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, Seiko Hashimoto, minister for the Tokyo Games, and Koike was expected to be held this month.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato declined to comment on Koike’s remarks, saying that “the government is not in a position to judge” her decision.

The date for the four-party meeting “has not been fixed,” Kato also told a press conference.

JIJI Press