Ishihara Dismisses Korean Criticism Of Tokyo Olympic Bid

by **Mulboyne** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:08 am

[floatl]

[/floatl]Some in Korea are violently opposed to the idea of Tokyo as site for the Olympics and Governor Ishihara is being cited as a major reason. Here's what the Lee Jay Walker, the Tokyo correspondent of the Seoul Times, has to say:

"...The Olympic Committee must be given all the facts about the Governor of Tokyo because Shintaro Ishihara is not only a denier of history; he is a dangerous maverick who installs anti-Korean and anti-Chinese hatred. Not only this, we are talking about a rampant sexist who made an alarming comment about the role of women in society... I wonder why the Olympic Committee is even entertaining the current Tokyo 2016 bid under such a blatant nationalist..."

Ishihara now appears to have added some fuel to the fire. During a press conference which accompanied the visit of the IOC inspection team, he was asked by a British journalist whether he was aware of these criticisms of the Tokyo bid. According to the Asahi (Japanese) Ishihara replied that former Korean President Park Chung-hee once told him the Japanese administration of his country had been fairer than the system of colonial rule of most European nations. He went on to say that while the former President hadn't argues that Japanese rule had been a good thing, he had said it was fair.

by **MrSatyre** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:27 am

"I wonder why the Olympic Committee is even entertaining the current Tokyo 2016 bid under such a blatant nationalist..."

Maybe for the same reasons they agreed to let China host the Olympics? Last time I checked, China had a much worse track record of violent nationalism, no human rights to speak of, rampant female fetus abortions, etc. etc.

Are the Japanese saints? Of course not. Who are? No one. But to claim that Japan doesn't rate hosting the Olympics for violations of common sense and decency when everyone else is guilty of the same...well, that's just self-serving and stupid.

by **Samurai_Jerk** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:47 am

If anyone thinks Tokyo will lose the Olympic bid because of Ishihara, they're living in La-la Land.

by **Greji** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:22 am

Samurai_Jerk wrote:If anyone thinks Tokyo will lose the Olympic bid because of Ishihara, they're living in La-la Land.

I'm in firm agreement with you SJ, Tokyo might not get the bid, but it certainly won't be on account of Blinky. He was probably right about Pak Chun Hi's comments, but he's too much of a dingaling to realize the it was not the best of times to quote him...
:cool:

by **Yokohammer** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:03 pm

This makes me wonder just how much currency ol' Blinky actually has with the general public.

Sure he's the guv'nor and all, but are people actually hanging off his every word, or just kind of waiting to see the back of him?

I know I'm hoping for the latter at the earliest possible convenience, but there really are more important things that need to be attended to ...

by **Behan** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:52 pm

I just don't get how any Chrysanthemums can say that their colonization of Korea was a good, or not so bad, thing. They were occupying a foreign country. They should be apologizing about it.
Maybe if I occupied Blinky's house, helped myself to everything there, I could justify it be rearranging his furniture and tidying up. He should then thank me for it.

by **Doctor Stop** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:44 pm

I was in Shibuya yesterday and a camera crew was interviewing people on the sidewalk, in front of the Hachiko Crossing Starbucks, asking them if they could recognize the Tokyo 2016 Olympic bid logo out of around six different logos. Just after he finished with a couple, I asked the interviewer how accurate were the interviewees and he said that pretty much no one had any idea which the Tokyo one was.

Maybe they should change it to a Rising Sun or something.

by **Mulboyne** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:57 am

Reuters: Tokyo officials brush off minor protest on IOC visit

Tokyo's 2016 bid leaders dismissed a minor protest by demonstrators during a visit by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday. Around 50 anti-Olympic protestors carrying placards staked out the proposed venue for Tokyo's waterfront main stadium on the IOC evaluation team's whistle-stop tour of the Japanese capital. "Japan is a democratic country," Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara told a media briefing. "Not just in Japan but anywhere in the world people are allowed to express their opinions. "No civil society has the right to suppress people's opinions. It is up to the IOC to decide on who will host the Olympics." Tokyo bid chairman Ichiro Kono added: "The demonstration didn't affect the tour"...more...

by **Greji** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:56 pm

Mulboyne wrote:

Reuters: Tokyo officials brush off minor protest on IOC visit

These type of demonstrators are at every site the committee will visit around the globe. There weren't many of them. One TV news show said less than 100 and another said less than 50.
:cool:

by **IkemenTommy** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:39 am

I'd like to know the exact reason why they are protesting against the Olympics. Do they oppose building the stadiums by spending wasteful public fundings? I highly doubt it. Most Japanese are apathetic about social issues so this could just be another rebel without a cause.

What's the chance that the majority of these protesters are disgruntled zainichis? The great conspiracy theorist, Takechanpoo, could weigh in on this.

by **Mulboyne** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:43 am

IkemenTommy wrote:I'd like to know the exact reason why they are protesting against the Olympics. Do they oppose building the stadiums by spending wasteful public fundings? I highly doubt it. Most Japanese are apathetic about social issues so this could just be another rebel without a cause.

What's the chance that the majority of these protesters are disgruntled zainichis? The great conspiracy theorist, Takechanpoo, could weigh in on this.

One group does oppose the spending, arguing that the money spent on just putting the bid together would be better used on social programmes and the like. Another group is pro-sport but thinks the Olympics is the wrong way to promote involvement. They want more grass-roots programmes.

by **Catoneinutica** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:05 am

IkemenTommy wrote:I'd like to know the exact reason why they are protesting against the Olympics. Do they oppose building the stadiums by spending wasteful public fundings? I highly doubt it. Most Japanese are apathetic about social issues so this could just be another rebel without a cause.

What's the chance that the majority of these protesters are disgruntled zainichis? The great conspiracy theorist, Takechanpoo, could weigh in on this.

The City of Denver has essentially banned the hosting of Olympics since 1972. Pretty smart, since the hosting the Olympics generally doesn't do the environment any favors, and always entails a massive redistribution of public resources from taxpayers to business owners. Tsutsumi Yoshiaki was able to even finagle a shinkansen line to get people to his ski results, in addition to the other billion of dollars he indirectly received.

-catone
-interesting factoid: Tsutsumi owns about 50,000 tsubo of land next to our old place in Karuizawa. He used to helicopter in about once a week. He rents a house there to one of his "bitches" for 40,000/mo and writes off his ownership costs as a business expense. He's a playa.

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Ishihara Dismisses Korean Criticism Of Tokyo Olympic Bid

Ishihara Dismisses Korean Criticism Of Tokyo Olympic Bid

A little hypocrisy

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