Photo/Illutration Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, speaks at an executive board meeting in Tokyo on June 21. The official report for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics was approved at the meeting. (Pool)

Literary great Mori Ogai (1862-1922) expressed a humorous “so what” attitude in a poem.

The lead-off poem for “Uta Nikki” (Poetry diary), a collection of poems he penned while on active duty as an Imperial Japanese Army surgeon, went to this effect:

“Literary critics of the world, I ask you not to judge my verse too harshly. If all the works in my diary are masterpieces, I would be a veritable ‘master poet.’”

In the May issue of “Tosho” (Books) magazine, poet Kazuhiro Nagata cited this poem and wrote, “This makes me smile despite myself.”

Ogai’s poem is perhaps among the few exceptions. Most displays of a “so what” attitude are cringeworthy.

That is precisely the case with the recently released official report on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Before the Games, Yoshiro Mori, president of the organizing committee, came under fire for his sexist remark to the effect that meetings with women tend to “drag on” because they talk too much.

I wanted to see how the report reviewed this scandal, which led to Mori’s resignation in disgrace.

Here is the report’s take: “(The incident) enlivened discussions on gender equality across Japanese society.”

The scandal had much to do with the Olympic ideal of diversity. The last thing I expected from the report was a positive spin claiming the incident served to raise the public’s awareness.

It was more or less akin to a bully breaking a friend’s toy and declaring, “You will get a new one bought (by your family) thanks to me.”

Such misguided self-justification was also evident in the report’s assessment of the Games’ cost.

The outlays eventually topped 1.4 trillion yen ($10.38 billion), which was double the estimate produced at the time Tokyo made its Olympic bid.

Instead of admitting failure in staying on budget, the report repeatedly insisted every attempt was made to keep costs down, implying the final tally would have been much greater without such efforts.

Ogai’s “Uta Nikki” contains a poem to the effect, “If people think (my book) is shoddy and should be burned, so be it.”

His collection was not burned and is here to stay.

What about the Olympics report?

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 24

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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