TOKYO, Feb. 18, 2021—So, this is how Kabuki actors play – or not play – the same acts over and over, and for centuries:
‘They’ have chosen on Feb. 18 Seiko Hashimoto, the Olympic game minister, as successor to Yoshiro Mori, the Tokyo Olympic games organizing committee president who had resigned for his sexist gaffes. ‘They’ are the ones, including prime minister Yoshihide Suga and Canon Corp. CEO Fujio Mitarai, that endorsed as the new president the 56-year-old woman athlete-turned Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker that Mori dotes on as his’daughter.’
After Mori reluctantly agreed to relinquish his post early February, They have been huddling together almost everyday and sometimes twice a day to discuss who should be appointed as successor to Mori in a high wire balancing act in deference to the Olympic principles while heeding to the more important issues of domestic politics and public opinions.
The selection as expected has proved too tall a task for ‘them,’ perhaps beyond their and Japanese sports societal abilities, for it amounted to overhauling the bureaucratic system, in which most of them belong to, the system that has survived to date no matter what happened in the past and regardless of changing times.
Mori made remarks that slight women ーー”Women talk too long at meetings.” – contravening one of key objectives of the upcoming games: “Accepting and respecting differences in race, color, gender, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, level of ability or other status allows peace to be maintained and society to continue to develop and flourish.’
Even though Mori, an 83-year-old former prime minister, resigned, he continues to remain as one of ‘They’ and loom over other inner circle members as the supreme advisor to all Japanese athletic organizations, including the Olympic games.
‘They’ include: Suga, former Japan Football Association chair Saburo Kawabuchi, Canon Corp. CEO and Tokyo 2020 game honorary chairman Fujio Mitarai, Japan Olympic Committee member and Judo champion Yasuhiro Yamashita, JOC director general and former Ministry of Finance vice minister Toshiro Muto, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, and former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Mori’s successor was supposed to be chosen by the 8-member (4 women and 4 men) ad hoc committee on the next Tokyo game president formed after Mori agreed to step down: The members include the deputy Tokyo governor, JOC’s Yamashita, sports agency director-general Koji Murofushi, and Canon’s Mitarai. The committee has been meeting frequently after Mori decided to resign but the meetings are held behind closed doors with no minutes kept or news conferences held.
Notwithstanding, Hashimoto’s name surfaced on Feb. 16 and 17– not from the ad hoc committee but from LDP members and Suga’s office ‘Kantei,’ suggesting that the selection work is led by lawmakers, and the ad hoc committee members were effectively relegated to be junior Kabuki actors with no power and acts to play in the Olympic theater except to hold closed door meetings at a Tokyo hotel. The organizing committee refused to identify the 8 members or where its meetings were held but the media easily got wind of the information with stake-up.
When Mori decided to resign, he asked Kawabuchi in person to succeed him, the appointment that was not backed by Suga who do not get along well with Mori and who was afraid about public criticisms that the successor was decided in secrecy and not in a democratic way.
The media did precisely that, blasting the way Kawabuchi was named. So They deleted Kawabuchi’s name and in place, floated Judo athlete Yamashita. The public trashed his name too by criticisms on social media for his failure to immediately criticize Mori when he made the sexist comment.
LDP politicians thus came across Hashimoto’s name. She needed to be persuaded to take the risk of resigning as a lawmaker and hence her income source. Suga told Olympic Committee secretary-general Muto to talk to Hashimoto not to worry about her re-election in the next general election this fall.
As Mori’s successor, Seiko Hashimoto is expected to look up closely to Mori for advise, helping Mori to continue working as Olympic game kingmaker and keeping intact the Japanese sports world’s male-chauvinism ethos that a man that successfully manages an athletic world, like Mori for rugby, stands at the top of the world, and he can spread his might to politics as Mori did to become the prime minister, and the country as a whole.
Mori might have perfected executing this ethos by blending it into Japan’s centuries-old bureaucracy, where man’s values are determined by one’s position in the societal hierarchy of ranks and experiences.
Politics are more complicated. Hashimoto would have to seek Mori’s advise at the same time she needs to consult with Suga, Koike and Mitarai since the men command higher positions than Hashimoto in the sports world and Japanese society bureaucracy hierarchy.
This is one of the ways that helped Japan become a more bureaucratic society.
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