Nagoya Mayor Bites Miu Goto Gold Medal, Citizen: Germ Medal

Nagoya city mayor Takashi Kawamura puts an Olympic gold medal in his mouth (video screenshot)

JAKARTA - Nagoya City Mayor Takashi Kawamura on Thursday was criticized online and reprimanded by Toyota Motor Corp for putting an Olympic gold medal in his mouth at an event aimed at celebrating softball pitcher Miu Goto's victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In that incident, Takashi Kawamura took off his mask and took a bite of the gold medal Goto won as he stood in front of a backdrop used for a press conference urging people to wash their hands frequently and keep their distance to prevent COVID-19 infection.

Trending posts on Twitter say Kawamura has turned Goto's gold medal into a germ medal. Some even suggested that Goto look for a replacement medal he won at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while defending Japan.

4日、東京オリンピックで活躍したソフトボールの後藤希友投手から金メダル獲得の報告を受けた際、披露されたメダルを突然、口に入れてかみ、市役所に批判の電話やhttps://t.co/EvgKelGPyR#nhk_video pic.twitter.com/iFMbMYpCEi

— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) August 4, 2021

Biting into gold medals is a common thing for athletes, and even sparked a funny tweet from the official Tokyo2020 account to declare "medals can't be eaten"

"It's a shame he can't feel the admiration and respect for the athlete," Toyota said of Kawamura's behavior. "And it's very regrettable that he doesn't want to think about preventing infection," said the world's largest automaker.

An official at Nagoya city hall said Kawamura had not yet issued a response to criticism of Toyota, which owns Goto's Red Terriers softball team and controls the economy of the central Japan region where Nagoya is located.

The mayor's apparent disregard for coronavirus etiquette in Japan where wearing masks has become a habit, even during the summer, comes at a time when COVID-19 cases in Japan are surging due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

Kawamura, who has drawn controversy for trying to close an exhibition about women forced to work in Japanese army brothels during World War Two, was re-elected for a fourth term in April.