Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo

Victory for Rio!

Japan failed to get the 2016 Olympic Games despite glossing over the racist governor of Tokyo. Yet clearly the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, was the weak link in the chain because he might be forgiven for being a racist in Tokyo but the same did not apply to the wider world. Therefore, will the people of Tokyo wake up to the reality of Ishihara?

Firstly, I would like to state that The Seoul Times published several articles about Ishihara and the racial nature of this individual. I myself informed several major organizations about Ishihara and notified them about past statements he made with regards to other ethnic groups and towards women.

I am not claiming that this was the reason why Ishihara lost, of course not, that would be foolhardy and over-playing my role because I was just one of many committed people and organizations who were against the Tokyo bid.

Also, the reason behind the failure of Tokyo’s bid will be multiple and maybe my articles had no impact what so ever, I will never know. However, I, other individuals, and organizations, did our best to inform the wider world and it shows you that the grass roots can’t be ignored.

I will concede that many innocent members of the Tokyo bid did a very good job, however, I believe that they had little hope because of the past deeds of Ishihara. After all, Ishihara clearly played a back seat and he was no robust Governor during this bid, instead he looked out of touch with the modern world.

How ironic that multi-cultural Rio won the bid and that a superstar like Pele is visibly the anti of what Ishihara likes.

Remember, Ishihara is clearly a dangerous maverick and he is an individual who panders to anti-foreign bashing when the time pleases him. More alarming, he is a revisionist of history and a person who denies the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing).

Rape of Nanjing —The Nanking (Nanjing) Massacre refers to a 6-week period following the Japanese capture of Nanking, then capital of China, on Dec. 9, 1937. During this period, hundreds of thousands of civilians were murdered and 20,000-80,000 women were raped by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army

Ishihara stated that the Rape of Nanjing is a myth because he commented that "They say we made a holocaust there, but that is not true. It is a lie made up by the Chinese." Yet the Rape of Nanjing did take place and both official documents and other forms of evidence are clearly available.

Also, like I stated in my article “Japan under Ishihara must not be given the 2016 Olympics,” I commented that Ishihara stated that "old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin." He is clearly stating that women have no value once they have lost their reproductive function and this is a far cry from the equality of the Olympic movement.

In truth, Tokyo should have had a great chance of winning the 2016 Olympic bid because they have not held the summer Olympics for a very long time. Also, it is abundantly clear that the infrastructure of Tokyo is very high and crime is not an issue.

Yet despite this, and the sheer size of the economy of Tokyo and all the other positives, it was clear that Ishihara was the weak spot and he could not be kept out of the picture.

Another weakness of the bid was that it looked like “an elite bid” which would merely develop wealthy parts of Tokyo and the “human side” appeared to take a back seat. However,　London, despite many parts of this city being wealthy, focused on developing a neglected part of London where unemployment and other negative social issues are a reality.

The Tokyo bid was more like a United Nations bid and too much focus was put on the environment and it was clear that many people from Tokyo were disinterested because the elitist Ishihara does not understand “the real world.”

I am sad for all the decent people of Tokyo who wanted this city to emerge victorious. However, I am glad that Tokyo lost because it would have given a dangerous legacy and more important, it would have given a rampant racist and sexist a chance to revitalize nationalism in Japan.

How ironic that multi-cultural Rio emerged victorious and surely this will add “salt to the wounds” of Ishihara.