The current Japanese minister for the Olympics, Seiko Hashimoto, will succeed Yoshiro Mori, who resigned after making “disrespectful” remarks about women. By the law of irony, it is a woman who will replace him.
Aged 56, Seiko Hashimoto was born just five days before the opening of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. An Olympic medalist in speed skating at the Albertville Games in 1992, she long pursued a dual sports career—skating in winter, cycling in summer. Her record includes four Winter Olympics (Sarajevo 1984, Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, and Lillehammer 1994), and three Summer Olympics (Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996).
She ticks all the boxes. An international profile, extensive knowledge of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, a solid political network, and now an essential condition, a “deep understanding” of gender equality. Since 2019, Seiko Hashimoto had added a second ministerial role, the Olympics, to her position as minister in charge of women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Swiftly entering politics, with her first term in the House of Councillors in 1995 under the Liberal Democratic Party, she has never left the realm of sports. She supported Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Games as a board member of the Japanese Olympic Committee. She was the head of the Japanese delegation at the Rio 2016 Games.
Seiko Hashimoto is expected to be replaced as the minister for the Olympics by another woman, Tamayo Marukawa. At 50 years old, this former television news presenter will return to a role she previously held for one year, between 2016 and 2017.
