Japan beef bowl chain executive fired over sexist remark
ABC News
A popular Japanese beef bowl chain, Yoshinoya Holdings Co_, has fired an executive over sexist remarks he made about a marketing strategy aiming to get young women “hooked” on its products as though turning “virgins into drug addicts.”
TOKYO -- A popular Japanese beef bowl chain, Yoshinoya Holdings Co., has fired an executive over sexist remarks he made about a marketing strategy aiming to get young women “hooked” on its products as though turning “virgins into drug addicts.”
Masaaki Ito, a managing director at Yoshinoya, known for its “gyudon” beef-over-rice dish, made the inflammatory remarks at a marketing lecture at Tokyo’s Waseda University on Saturday.
Gender disparity runs deep in Japan, where only a small percentage of women hold decision-making positions in business, academia and politics.
The comments made by a rising marketing strategist that only surfaced at a seminar outside the company suggest how gender bias and other discrimination are still widespread and tolerated in the Japanese corporate world.
