A monument showing the Olympic rings is seen in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Jan. 18, 2021. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO -- Experts familiar with the Olympics, sporting disciplines and international affairs have condemned remarks by Kentaro Kobayashi, the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony show director dismissed a day before the games over a past Holocaust joke, as the latest in a slew of scandals surrounding people involved in the games, while taking a critical view of attitudes toward discrimination in Japan.

       Yuji Ishizaka, a Nara Women's University sports sociologist versed in the history of the games, censured Kobayashi's past use of the genocide of Jews for a joke.

       "Even though it was a past statement, it's hard to believe, and inconceivable," he said.

       Kobayashi's dismissal was not the first to rock the game's opening ceremony; just days before, a composer in charge of music at it stepped down over past bullying of classmates with disabilities. In March, the general manager of the opening and closing ceremonies resigned after it emerged that he had made disparaging comments about a female entertainer's appearance when suggesting ceremony ideas.

       "The Olympics is supposedly an event with importance placed on principles, and the opening ceremony in particular is seen as a platform to showcase that country's culture and history. The fact that people who acted and spoke in ways that are unforgivable from a common-sense perspective took important roles in the opening ceremony sends a message that Japan's culture is broken," Ishizaka said.

       "With the games being held without spectators, it no doubt appears to be quite an unusual event when viewed from overseas. But if even the opening ceremony cannot be conducted properly, then the world will question the Tokyo 2020 Olympics itself, asking, 'What was this?'"

       Masayuki Tamaki, a sports culture critic, commented, "I'm just fed up with seeing a continuing stream of individuals stepping down and being dismissed, but this probably indicates the state of affairs with discrimination issues in Japan."

       He added, "Until only around half a year ago, a person who couldn't tell what misogyny was even if it was right in front of him was head of the games' organizing committee. Rather than being a case of 'not being able to vet people,' likely it was more that the side making the selections lacked awareness about the discrimination issue."

       "That's precisely why we've ended up with an unusual situation where outsiders have pointed out problems right before the opening ceremony," Tamaki said. "It's late saying it, but we have to make this an opportunity to rethink human rights perceptions in Japan."

       At the same time, Japanese author Masaru Sato, a former chief analyst at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that the games' organizing committee had moved quickly to dismiss Kobayashi. He added, "In realistic terms, it's difficult (for people involved in the Olympics) to check back over the past several decades to confirm what kinds of expressions people have used, and this kind of thing could happen in future."

       Nevertheless, Sato said it was problematic that Kobayashi used the phrase "inappropriate expression" in his statement following his dismissal for his reference to the genocide of Jews in a comedy skit.

       "The Holocaust was absolutely unforgivable from a humanitarian perspective, with people massacred simply because they were Jews. He lacked awareness. He doesn't understand the seriousness of the situation," Sato said. "Rather than just thinking of the Holocaust as 'something that happened in the past,' it's an issue that we must face with an awareness that 'humanity could repeat it in the future.'"

       (Japanese original by Shohei Oshima, Kazuhiro Toyama, City News Department, and Kenji Noro, Regional News Department)

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