Photo/Illutration Naomi Watanabe speaks at a ceremony to kick off the Olympic ticket lottery in May 2019 in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Popular entertainer Naomi Watanabe, responding to insults uttered by the Tokyo Olympic creative director, said she was comfortable with her body and urged people to be more accepting of those who are different.

Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., an entertainment company that manages Watanabe, posted her statement on its website on March 18 amid disbelief and outrage over Hiroshi Sasaki's remarks.

As a celebrity, she said, it is true that people tell her that she “is big.”

“I’ve been working with the full understanding that people poke fun at my appearance,” Watanabe said. “I am happy with my body. Being fat is not everything (about me), so I will continue to work as Naomi Watanabe, as always.”

She mentioned, however, how she feels as an individual.

“I sincerely hope the world becomes a fun and rich place where (people) respect and accept each other’s uniqueness and viewpoints.”

Watanabe, an actress and comedian, received a confidential offer to appear in the Olympic Ceremony last year. But after the event was postponed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, she was told that the plan had gone back to the drawing board.

“I have not heard from anything about (the ceremony) since then,” she said in the statement.

Sasaki, the 66-year-old chief creative director of both the Opening and Closing ceremonies, was found to have suggested in March last year that Watanabe be transformed into a pig for an Olympic ceremony performance.

It was “a surprise to me, honestly,” she said. “It is different from what I heard initially.”

Sasaki resigned over the remarks and apologized to Watanabe earlier in the day.

Watanabe has the most followers on Instagram among female entertainers in Japan. She has starred in Netflix’s “Queer Eye: We’re In Japan!” and recently announced that she will move to the United States from April to expand her work.

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