Skip to main content

JAAF Marathon Project Leader Seko Given Official Warning After Sexual Harassment Accusation by Female TV Announcer

JAAF Board of Directors member and Marathon Development Project leader Toshihiko Seko, 62, was given an official warning by the JAAF after making inappropriate comments to a female TV announcer. Seko acknowledged having made the remarks and expressed regret, saying, "I'd like to exercise more caution about what I say."

According to the JAAF and the DeNA corporation where Seko serves as executive head coach of the men's ekiden team, at an afterparty following April's Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon where he was working as a guest commentator, Seko made inappropriate remarks toward a female TV announcer who was also attending the party. The announcer reported the incident to the network, who reassigned her superiors who had told her to attend the party.

The DeNA corporate headquarters PR office confirmed in an interview that Seko had made the inappropriate remarks and that as an employer it had given him an official warning and apologized to the TV network where the announcer is employed. In mid-July DeNA contacted the JAAF on the subject.

JAAF executives discussed the matter directly with Seko and likewise gave him an official warning. Seko said, "Sexual harassment? I don't remember anything like that," but appeared to show remorse and promised to be more careful about what he said in the future. "I apologize deeply," he said. A JAAF spokesperson commented, "We would like him to continue his duties."

A two-time Olympic marathoner in the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Games, Seko was named head of the Marathon Develop Project by the JAAF in the buildup to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Translator's note: Comments like Seko's made toward female guests and cast members are commonplace in the Japanese variety TV show world. In an old story from 2008 Seko was quoted making suggestive innuendo about a female cast member while appearing on one comedy variety show, to the apparent approval of other cast members. Like the current Nihon University football and Japanese amateur boxing scandals, this story coming to light may be a sign that attitudes are finally changing for the better.

source articles:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20180808/k10011568941000.html
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20180808-00050052-yom-spo
http://bunshun.jp/articles/-/8501
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Good to note this sort of thing gets addressed with appropriate gravity. Just visually, the talk shows I saw on Japanese tv appeared as progressive as those that can be seen on USA tv.
August 8, 2018 at 11:23 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more