A senior figure in the country’s Olympic movement and head of the bobsleigh federation, Takahiro Kitano came under scrutiny on Wednesday after acknowledging that he had made disparaging remarks about Koreans following his team’s failure to qualify for the Milano Cortina Games.
According to several local media reports, including NHK, the Japanese Olympic Committee stated that it had “received and accepted Vice-President Kitano’s resignation from his roles as director and vice-president for personal reasons.”
The controversy dates back to February, during an internal federation meeting, where Kitano reportedly reprimanded another executive using the term “Chosenjin.” As cited by local media, he said, “Even fools or Chosenjin can look at the results and analyse them.” While the word literally translates to “Korean person” and was historically neutral, it is now widely regarded as offensive or xenophobic, particularly when used by Japanese speakers in a modern context.
Although the incident has only recently surfaced, reports suggest it was not an isolated case. HuffPost Japan cited testimonies from other officials alleging that Kitano frequently used derogatory language toward Koreans and had previously opposed holding a training camp in South Korea in 2020 solely because of its location.
The JBLSF naturally issued a press release that same day, confirming Kitano’s resignation as well from an organisation he had been leading since 2012. Through the federation, the former director apologised “deeply to all those affected by the serious problems and concern caused by my inappropriate comments”. Taking the matter seriously, according to Kitano, he tendered his resignation as vice-president and director of the JOC, which has been accepted.
“Furthermore, as of today, I have resigned from my positions as president and director of the federation,” he added.
Sports law experts and local media outlets pointed out that the Japanese’s comments directly contravene the Olympic Charter, which explicitly prohibits any form of discrimination on the grounds of race, origin or nationality.
