TOKYO: Akiko Amano, the sole Japanese judo referee at this year's Tokyo Olympics, has a full-time job that involves more heat and energy than a gold medal match: She is the first female head of a famed fireworks company whose history goes back 362 years.
"For a judo referee, it is extremely important to have the courage to pass split-second decisions as the situation changes from moment to moment in a match. That courage and determination is cultivated by the fireworks job," she added "I see the Tokyo Olympics as the culmination of my 20-year career as an IJF referee. But I'm also ready for a possible cancellation ... I will have no regrets either way," said Amano, the 15th-generation leader of Kagiya.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged that the event will go ahead, but a voter survey by Japan's Jiji news agency showed this month that two-thirds of those polled believed the Olympics should be postponed again or cancelled.