Yoshinoya beef bowl chain executive fired over sexist remark

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The Yoshinoya beef bowl chain has fired an executive who talked about a marketing strategy to get young women “hooked” on its food as though turning “virgins into drug addicts.” Masaaki Ito was a managing director at the popular Japanese chain known for its “gyudon” beef-over-rice dish. He 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. Japan in 2021 ranked 120th in the World Economic Forum’s 156-nation global gender gap index.