By Tim Kelly
TOKYO (Reuters) – The mayor of Japanese city Nagoya earned himself Internet infamy and a rare rebuke from Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday for chomping down on an Olympic gold medal at an event meant to celebrate its winner, softball pitcher Miu Goto.
In the incident https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210804/k10013181441000.html on Wednesday, Takashi Kawamura pulled down his mask and put Goto’s gold medal between his teeth as he stood in front of a backdrop used for press briefing that urges people to wash their hands and socially distance to prevent COVID-19 infections.
Trending posts on Twitter said Kawamura had turned Goto’s gold medal into a germ medal, which in Japanese is pronounced the same. Some called for Goto to get a replacement for the medal she won at the Tokyo 2020 Games playing for Japan.
Biting down on medals, which only contain a small amount of gold even if gold, is common among athletes and even prompted a humorous tweet from the official Tokyo2020 account to confirm that “medals are not edible https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1419331341129117698.”
“It is unfortunate that he was unable to feel admiration and respect for the athlete,” Toyota said in a statement on Thursday about Kawamura. “And it is extremely regrettable that he was unable to give consideration to infection prevention,” said the world’s biggest car maker.
An official at Nagoya city hall said Kawamura had not released a response to the criticism from Toyota, which owns the Red Terriers softball team that Goto plays for, and dominates the economy of the region in central Japan where the city is located.
The mayor’s apparent disregard for coronavirus etiquette in a country where mask wearing is common, even in stifling summer heat, comes as COVID-19 cases spike in Japan as the more infectious Delta variant spreads.
Kawamura, who has courted controversy before for trying to shut down an exhibition on women forced to work in Japanese army brothels during World War Two, was re-elected in April for a fourth term.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; additional reporting by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
