SOCHI, RUSSIA ¨C Yoshiro Mori, the new Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Organizing Committee president and former Prime Minister, faced some tough questions from the international media at a news conference on Sunday morning at the Main Media Center for the Sochi Games.

One reporter wanted to know why the 76-year-old Mori spoke in Japanese instead of English while addressing an audience including reporters from foreign countries.

¡°You know, in my generation very few people understood foreign languages,¡± Mori said. ¡°I was in the second grade when the war (World War II) ended and English was considered the enemy¡¯s language. And if I should make a huge mistake (by speaking English incorrectly) it could lead to problems.

Added Mori, ¡± And when you come to Japan, can you speak Japanese?¡±

Another journalist asked about the seemingly advanced age of the Tokyo 2020 organizing team and the lack of females on the committee.

¡°There will be more people to be assigned to positions in several sections of our committee,¡± commented Mori. ¡°Also 25-30 people will be appointed as an executive board member. Therefore I will take a woman¡¯s appointment into full consideration. I would like young people to join us. I would like women to do so as well.¡±

Mori said he will be seeking to put staff in positions they are appropriate for.

¡°I would like to assign the right people in the right places,¡± he stated.

Mori also spoke of his previous meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan hosting the 1964 Tokyo Games.

¡°Nineteen years after the end of the World War (II) we were able to organize the games and showed that Japan had become a peaceful nation,¡± Mori said. ¡°President Putin shares these thoughts, that the rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights are values which must be important for Russia. He told me that a few years ago.¡±