The 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister and head of the Tokyo committee organizing the postponed Summer Games this year, had told a newspaper earlier that he may step down if calls for his resignation continue.
Yoshiro Mori, who suggested in an online meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee that women talk too much in meetings, "stoked a social media backlash", and on Twitter "users quickly began calling for Mori to resign", the US daily said on its online edition.
"If one (female) member raises her hand to speak, the others all feel the need to speak too".
"We have about seven women at the organizing committee but everyone understands their place".
Yoshiro Mori sparked a backlash with comments that women board members talked too much.
However, Kyodo News reported that Mori also praised the caliber of the seven women now sitting on the 35-member board, saying many had previously served in sporting leagues and had valuable worldwide experience.
There has been dismay in Japan that no one spoke up in the meeting on Wednesday to express outrage at Mori's comments.
His latest comments triggered anger on social media, with the hashtag #Moriresign trending on Twitter.
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"The statement made at the Japan Olympic Committee was an inappropriate expression, contrary to the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics", Mori said Thursday. "I'm going to have to suffer again because you've antagonised women, '" he said.
"On boards with a lot of women, the meetings take so much time", he said. "I would like to take back what I said, and apologize to those who were offended by my remarks".
"If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying", Mr Mori was quoted as saying by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
At a press conference on Thursday, he was asked on what basis he said women board members were too long-winded.
The New York Times ran a story, headlined "Tokyo Olympics Chief Suggests Limits for Women at Meetings".
"This morning, my daughter and granddaughter scolded me as well".
The comments came with polls showing around 80 percent of Japanese oppose holding the Games this year, and while several parts of Japan are under a virus state of emergency.
While ranking highly on a range of worldwide indicators, Japan persistently trails on promoting gender equality, ranking 121 out of 153 nations surveyed in the 2020 global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum.
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