Japan female mayor loses fight to speak
Tokyo, April 6: A female Japanese mayor was barred on Friday from delivering a speech inside a sumo ring a day after controversy erupted over a longstanding ban on women entering the sports rings.
On Thursday, Japan’s sumo association chief made headlines at home and abroad after issuing an apology to women who were ordered out of a sumo ring while trying to offer life- saving medical assistance.
Women are traditionally banned from sumo rings, which are sacred spaces in the Shinto religion from which the sport emerged, because they are considered “ritually unclean”.
On Friday mayor Tomoko Nakagawa from the western city of Taka- razuka slammed a decision to prevent her from delivering a speech from a sumo ring, something her male counterparts have regularly done.